Organic potatoes available in more varieties, at lower prices, all across Europe.

• Shoppers throughout Europe are enjoying a greater variety of organic potatoes at more affordable prices, according to researchers who have published an international study today.
• Several varieties of organic potato, suitable for a range of national palates and cuisine, are adorning supermarket shelves across the continent for the first time.
• A European study, led by Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, found up to ten varieties of potatoes, which can be grown without using chemical fertilisers and pesticides whilst being particularly resistant to the deadly fungal disease, blight.
• 'Designer composts' were created as part of the project, and were shown to increase organic potato crop yields by up to 40 per cent.
• One of the project's main objectives was to encourage more consumers and producers to 'go organic' - currently just four per cent of shoppers buy organic vegetables.
• Among the newly-available organic potato selection are two Scottish varieties, Eve Balfour and Lady Balfour, which have been bred by the Scottish Crop Research Institute and are on UK supermarket shelves.
• Organic farmers do not have powerful chemical fertilisers and pesticides in their armoury, meaning harvests are much smaller than conventional crops grown on similarly-sized areas of land.
• Organic farmers' main weapons against blight - which caused widespread famine in the UK in the 1840s and is extremely difficult to control - are mineral copper sprays, and even these are not popular with consumers.
• Professor Carlo Leifert, leader of the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at Newcastle University, said: "Until now it's been hard to find varieties of potato that can be grown organically but can resist blight, and it's taken a lot of investigation to get this far.
• Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, said, "The results from the research are good news for farmers and consumers.