Abolition of potato board would 'benefit' consumers

would encourage the industry to raise its standards and supply the kind

of product wanted in the market place.

''Already, we are having to become more market-orientated, and that

process will accelerate without the board,'' said Mr Bob Doig, president

of the Scottish Potato Trade Association, which is campaigning for a

producer poll to decide the immediate future of the PMB and the UK

potato marketing scheme. The Scottish National Farmers' Union has also

come out in favour of a poll.

According to Mr Doig, in the absence of quotas and intervention

buying, the industry would have to organise itself by aiming for

specific markets and varieties. For example, the crispers had to plan

ahead before planting to ensure supplies of the varieties they needed.

''In a European context, potatoes from the Mediterranean countries are

becoming more readily available to British consumers at traditionally

out-of-season times of the year,'' he pointed out. ''As businessmen, we

have to be aware that this is happening -- and that we are going to see

a much greater two-way movement of potatoes between the UK and the

Continent.

''We ourselves have been involved in exporting potatoes to Spain, and

I see the future as quite exciting. But it's the supermarkets and other

professional buyers who have raised standards, not the board. There are

never too many potatoes around of the kind consumers want.''

Confirming that, to date, more than 1000 growers have pledged their

support for the SPTA campaign -- half of them from south of the Border

-- Mr Doig said an official call for a poll was now ''a certainty''

within the next few weeks.

He was speaking as senior board officials arrived in Scotland to drum

up producer backing for the proposed changes -- including a new #48 a

hectare levy which would raise #7.5m nationally (#1m in Scotland) to

fund research, market development, and product promotion.

However, despite PMB confidence about winning over the majority of

producers, this figure has already been rejected by both the SPTA and

the Scottish NFU as being ''too high,'' and not offering value for

money. The trade representatives say #4m a year, collected by statutory

levy through an industry development council, would be enough to do the

job without the need for the board.

Asked how the SPTA, whose 100 members represent only one-third of the

Scottish crop was able to speak for the rest of the merchants in

Scotland, the vice-president Mr David Stewart declared: ''We are trying

to get a poll to find out what the other two-thirds think, which is more

than the board is doing.

''But in the run-up to a poll I am sure the PMB will take the

opportunity to review its position and look at the alternatives, rather

than looking at the black hole of nothing.''

Union vice-president Sandy Mole said: ''We believe a levy of between

#25 and #30 a hectare would get the support of growers. Before the

proposals came out, we wanted the PMB to initiate a poll putting the

options to growers, rather than presenting its own proposals without any

consultation.''

Prior to addressing a series of three producer meetings at Edinburgh,

Perth, and Banff, the board chairman Mr John Heading admitted to being

''concerned'' about the position in Scotland. Despite endeavouring to

work with the Scottish NFU, there was still a lack of unanimity on the

proposals.

He was also disappointed by the ''dead and wooden'' response from the

Scottish merchants, which contrasted with the attitude shown by their

counterparts in England and Wales. The board meets next week to fix the

levy for the 1994 crop, although it will not be collected until

November.