The new “Potato‑LITE” project aims to deliver novel, sustainable cultivation approaches to minimise tillage intensity throughout the UK
Dr. Mac McWilliam, R&D Director of Agricultural Science at PepsiCo
“Agriculture is at the heart of PepsiCo, including our Walkers brand in the UK. As a business, we’re deeply committed to developing scientifically validated solutions which will enable us to make progress towards our global PepsiCo Positive (pep+) goal of spreading regenerative farming practices across 7 million acres by 2030.
The Potato-LITE project will help us drive this positive action by transforming potato cultivation and improving soil health whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We are delighted to be working in partnership across the supply chain, including our growers, as we work towards a net zero future.”
Dr. Alex McCormack, Innovation Technical Lead at CHAP
“Working alongside our public-sector partners and leading experts from Harper Adams University and Cranfield University, will enable us to better understand the impact of intensive cultivation operations seen in potato and root crops. This project aims to mitigate the negative effects on soil health, reduce GHG emissions linked to production and enable the sector to transition towards regenerative practices.”
Ed Hodson, Potato Product Specialist at GRIMME UK
“We are very excited to start the Potato-LITE project which is vital to help set the direction of potato production techniques for the near future.
Innovative equipment and processes are needed to move forwards as UK production has reached a plateau. This project will bring new solutions to deliver commercial and environmental benefits through reducing the intensity of cultivations.
Growers will also be provided with the tools to make informed field by field decisions to identify the best process of growing potatoes, resulting in environmental benefits but also cost savings, labour reductions and improved work rates.”
Mark Strawson, Managing Director at Strawson Limited
“We are working hard on implementing regenerative farming practices to improve soil health. Currently, potato cultivation is a heavy process, with significant volumes of soil being moved to bury stones and clods to establish a friable seed bed.
Climate change disruptions and the need to reduce energy use have brought this work into sharp focus. As such, innovative solutions are required to directly tackle such challenges whilst also reducing fuel use and labour costs linked to establishing a potato crop.
We are excited to work with Innovate UK, other growers, academic partners, consultants and the supply chains to develop novel processes and use modernised, lower impact cultivation machinery to establish sustainable potato crops in the UK.”
James Young, Vice President of Agriculture at McCain GB & Ireland
“Given the increasingly unpredictable climate, the shift towards smart and sustainable farming practices is vital to futureproof the farming industry.
At McCain, we are committed to implementing regenerative agriculture practices across 100% of our potato acreage by 2030. To achieve this goal, we’ve created a Regenerative Agriculture Framework, with minimising soil disturbance as one of its core principles. We are thrilled to work alongside industry leaders and several of our growers on Potato-LITE to explore optimised systems for potato cultivation to ensure the long-term viability of potato growing in the UK.”
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $86 billion in net revenue in 2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people.
McCain Foods is the UK’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products, employing over 1,300 people across five processing facilities and a dedicated seed potato business. We are the largest purchaser of the British potato crop, buying around 15% of the total market from 250 growers, some of whom have worked with us for three generations.
McCain is committed to implementing regenerative agriculture practices across 100% of our global potato acreage by 2030. To support our growers in their progression towards a more regenerative model, we have developed a Regenerative Agriculture Framework to set a minimum credible standard for the industry. This was developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders including academia, scientific organizations, farmer representatives, public institutions, customers and NGOs.
GRIMME was founded in 1861 as a forge in Damme (Germany) and today, the family-owned company employs more than 2850 people worldwide.
GRIMME has been manufacturing high-quality agricultural machinery for more than 80 years and is a specialist in potato, beet and vegetable technology in over 120 countries around the world. Established in 1993, GRIMME UK Ltd has been leading the way with innovative solutions for UK potato growers for 30 years. With the largest range of potato establishment and harvesting technology it’s easy to see why GRIMME is the machinery manufacturer of choice for the majority of potato growers in the UK. GRIMME UK’s mission is to deliver sustainable solutions for all root crop and vegetable growers by providing products and services that enable their businesses to thrive in a competitive environment.
Crop Health and Protection (CHAP), funded by Innovate UK, is one of four UK Agri-Tech Centres. CHAP’s vision is for the UK to be a global leader in the development of applied agri-technologies, to help secure our future by nourishing a growing population sustainably while delivering economic, environmental and health benefits to society.
CHAP acts as a unique, independent nexus between UK government, researchers and industry, building innovation networks to identify and accelerate the development of cutting-edge solutions to drive incremental, transformative and disruptive changes in sustainable crop productivity and to establish controlled environment agriculture (CEA) as a core competency.