The Northern Ireland Potato Festival was held on 1 October at the Giants Causeway.
Carol Hall and Ethel White of AFBI Grassland and Plant Science Branch were kept busy on the AFBI stand at the Festival. They were working alongside CAFRE Loughry’s Food Technology Team and the Mighty Spud team. They answered queries about potato varieties and about potatoes in general.
Purple Magic, bred by AFBI’s Paul Watts, created a lot of interest with its purple flesh. Carol and Ethel each gave a talk during the course of the day, Carol speaking on ‘Growing your own potatoes’ and Ethel on ‘The secret life of the potato’.
The day-long event is now in its 4th year and centres on celebrating N Ireland’s most prolific potato breeder, John Clarke. The National Trust, the Causeway and Glens Council and businesses and organisations across the Potato sector, including AFBI, together organise the event which attracted over 7,000 visitors this year.
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