Set up to replace the Potato Marketing Board, the Potato Council was originally known as the
Potato Industry Development Council and then the
British Potato Council until April 2008.
Potato Marketing Board The organisation was originally established in 1934 as the Potato Marketing Board by Potato Marketing Scheme 1993 approved under the
Potato Marketing Scheme (Approval) Order (Great Britain) 1933 (
SR&O 1933/1186), under powers given to potato producers under the
Agricultural Marketing Act 1931 and the
Agricultural Marketing Act 1933. The scheme was mainly set up to put an end to the unstable market conditions of the 1920s and 1930s. The board was to regulate the marketing of the industry by registering producers and prohibit sales by unregistered producers. Upon the outbreak of the
Second World War, the
Ministry of Food took control of all agricultural production. With the passing of the
Potato Marketing Scheme 1933 (Modification and Suspension) Order 1939 (
SR&O 1939/1876) under the Defence (General) Regulations, all of the board's activities were suspended.
British Potato Council In 1997, under the
Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997 (
SI 1997/266), the name was changed to the
British Potato Council. It levied farmers under powers originally delegated from the
Industrial Organisation and Development Act 1947 but now through powers granted to its parent organisation. It was also funded through the
Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and the National Assembly for Wales Agriculture Department (NAWAD). In 2005, a report by Daniel Lewis from the Efficiency in Government Unit (jointly sponsored by the
Centre for Policy Studies and the Economic Research Council), called
The Essential Guide to British Quangos, looked into the role of
quangos in British politics and potential efficiency savings that could have been made. The report named the British Potato Council as one of the nine "most useless quangos". In 2008, it was merged with other similar levy-funded organisations to form the
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), where it operates as a specialist division focused on the potato industry. In 2007, the British Potato Council received £6 million in funding from British farmers. Despite this, the organization had to drop the word
British from its name due to EU rules. This was to avoid the impression that it receives state subsidies. ==Agricultural experimental station==