8th World Potato Congress - Edinburgh

Various members of the company from France, England and of course Scotland were able to attend the WPC, held for the first time in Edinburgh at the end of May.

Over 800 visitors from 50 countries travelled to Edinburgh where they were treated to several days of presentations, discussions and dialogue. The congress was held in the excellent surroundings of the Edinburgh Conference Centre, which has numerous auditoriums and halls, as well as state of the art audio and video facilities.

There was also a small exhibition area, which all the delegates were encouraged to visit through the simple trick of serving all the tea/coffee and lunch breaks there.

The themes for the conference were Current Challenges and Future Opportunities with a wide range of presentations on a diversity of topics from Obesity: the Global Health Crisis to Storing the Potato Perfectly and Predicting the Potatoes Future. The speakers were equally diverse, from a South African strategist to an author and environmentalist and Directors of international food companies.

Tuesday evening was reserved for a Gala Dinner held in the National Museum of Scotland. The evening was full of good food and drink, rounded off by some very vigorous, if very inexperienced, Scottish dancing. The affair finished at midnight, which still gave time for some hardy souls to enjoy a dram or 3 before bed. Those who lacked stamina and had retired early suffered a fire alarm and evacuation from one of the hotels anyway.

Three years and counting to the next congress, wherever it may be.