The Board and Executive of Nene Potatoes Ltd were delighted to have Peter Kendall, President of the National Farmers Union (NFU), officially open its new Quality Assurance facility today. Chairman of Nene Potatoes, David Hoyles, said “It is crucial that Nene confidently delivers the expected quality potatoes to our customer’s right first time and give our grower Members timely accurate information to maximise their crop returns. This new facility helps us to achieve that. We are extremely pleased to have Peter Kendall officially open this investment today.”
The event was attended by many of Nene Potatoes’ customers, industry colleagues and its grower Members. It was indeed these members of the co-operative who funded the building to help offer their customers reliable supply, assured quality and be open in business exchange.
The QA facility is sited next to the Nene Potatoes office, and allows the professional marketing team to see potatoes first hand in a timely fashion, and allow them to know the crop they are selling. The building is equipped to allow the washing, grading, hot boxing, dry matter scoring, quality control analysis and recording of potato samples all year round, but especially during the harvest and storage period. Recorded data and photographs are uploaded daily to the marketing office to allow a detailed log of samples to be catalogued. The display area of the building is used for members and customers to see potatoes washed and presented – these ‘wash-ups’ occur every other month. In addition, the display room will be used for internal agronomy and technical update meetings.
Peter Kendall said “It is encouraging to see growers willing to put their hands in their pockets to invest in the future. The consumer is wanting more and more to buy British produce. It is up to us to make the investments necessary to provide them with consistent quality and continuity. This facility is a great example of that”.