potatoes

Greenvale has been helping schools around Perth and Kinross to dig deep in a bid to educate them about the origins of the food they eat.

The ‘Tattie Tales’ project, organised by the Royal Highland Educational Trust and sponsored by the Greenvale site in Burrelton, encourages classes to grow and harvest their own potatoes from scratch in order to win the prize for the heaviest crop.

This year 21 schools took part in the mash-up, which aims to show the children the gradually unfolding story of the spud and how food and farming are linked.

Top of the crops in the annual competition was Viewlands Nursery, Perth, which harvested the heaviest volume of potatoes at 1,590g and have won £100 of Garden Centre Vouchers and an all-expenses-paid farm visit.

Also winners were Glendelvine PS, Perthshire, who picked up first prize for their project, which was based on how the children used their potatoes.

Miriam Doe, seed QA manager of Greenvale, said: “Tattie Tales is a fun and educational project covering a range of learning outcomes. Pupils are very much hands-on and enjoy learning how to grow potatoes and how they fit into a healthy balanced diet.'

Each school was allocated a local farmer to talk them through the story of potatoes, and they also chipped in with advice when it came to planting and harvesting time.

In order to win, the classes had to plant and nurture their own seed potatoes for around three months, from March to June. The children were given the responsibility of planting the potatoes, maintaining the level of compost, regulating the water supply and feeding the greedy spuds. Once harvested, the classes’ potatoes were weighed to see who had cultivated the best bunch.

Anna Dickinson, project co-ordinator at The Royal Highland Educational Trust, said: “One of the most rewarding aspects of the project is watching the facial expressions of the children as they see their potatoes emerge from the soil. To the delight of the children, the potatoes are then cooked and consumed – the perfect end to a 'farm to fork' project.'

Founded over 40 years ago, Greenvale is the UK’s leading supplier of fresh potatoes, handling 500,000 tonnes of potatoes every year.

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