Making potato supply chains more sustainable

UK potato supplier Branston is conducting trials of technology and sustainable practices throughout the potato supply chain in an effort to achieve net zero by 2030. 

Looking to the wider supply chain for fresh potatoes, Branston is leading the Tuber Net Zero project in partnership with Agri-tech firm B-hive innovations, the University of Lincoln, crop storage technology firm Crop Systems Ltd and growers in Lincolnshire and Scotland.

The project brings together expertise from the areas impacting most on the carbon footprint of potatoes: soil management and fertiliser use in the field, transport and cold storage. The three-year initiative will trial specific approaches to reduce carbon and cost in each area with the overall goal of enhancing the long-term sustainability of the fresh potato industry in the UK.

Transport and storage

Branston has already trialled an initiative to reduce reliance on wooden boxes in the harvesting, storing and transporting of potatoes. Its box-to-bulk transition will enable lorries to transport an extra four tonnes directly from the field or store to the packing site. It will remove the need for forklifts to load and unload lorries as well as avoiding the return of lorry loads of empty wooden boxes to farms.

As part of the project, Branston is working in conjunction with Crop Systems Ltd — a storage technology firm innovating new methods in storing crops in optimum condition, while minimising energy usage and environmental impact. The company is trialling the introduction of its WarmStor technology while the potatoes are in transit. Its low energy air source system gently warms or cools the load, so that the potatoes are at the optimum temperature for handling when they arrive at the packing site.

They are also looking at further enhancements to the efficiency of potato cold stores, using a new system of airflow that does not require a defrost cycle and assessing the potential for a slightly raised storage temperature whilst maintaining quality and sprout control.

Packaging and waste prevention

Maintaining the correct storage environment for packaged potatoes is also crucial when it comes to preventing waste.

As well as introducing frosted packaging to reduce greening, Branston uses PerfoTech technology, which analyses the optimum ventilation required for the crop and lasers tiny holes in the film as the potatoes are packed. The breathable holes can also prevent condensation forming, which helps the potatoes to keep fresher for longer, extending the shelf life of potatoes by up to two days for retailers and customers.

The Branston team has also formed several avenues for waste produce. Not only has it created prepared products using outsize tubers and peeled ‘cosmetically challenged’ spuds for mash and ready-meals, but it has also used low-grade material to generate electricity in its anaerobic digestion plant for some time.

The ongoing challenge is to get the best possible value from every part of the crop from the thousands of tonnes dealt with each year, ideally retaining it within the human food chain.

From pilot phase to its full launch later this year, Branston has recently begun commercialising its new potato protein product, following its investment into a new £6m extraction facility in partnership with agri-tech R&D firm RootExtracts Ltd, which has developed and refined the bespoke technology over the past few years.

The factory will convert secondary grade low-value potatoes into functional plant-based protein, as well as generating starch-based products for a range of manufacturing applications.

Field

In the field, experimental methods in growing potatoes are being trialled alongside the University of Lincoln, with new regenerative agriculture practices including cultivation techniques aiming to minimise soil disturbance, maximise biodiversity and minimise human input.

By far the biggest GHG emitter throughout potato production is the use of nitrogen based fertilisers, so Branston has been working on the development of a low-carbon fertiliser that uses potato pulp, a by-product of the peeling process. This should release around 80% less carbon than standard synthetic fertilisers and will be fully trialled at field scale as part of the project.

Image: supplied.