The British Potato Council has launched a new service to help levy-payers get maximum benefit from research carried out on their behalf.
Grower Gateway, a newsletter e-mailed to levy-payers once a month, gives a round-up of the latest research-related news and topical information and is designed to help growers access the wealth of BPC-funded research information available to help them run profitable potato enterprises.
"Recent reviews and feedback suggest that, while growers are aware this information is available, they are not always able to find it quickly," says BPC knowledge transfer manager Rob Clayton.
"The new service should achieve this – there are links contained in the newsletter that go direct to the BPC website where you can find more information on a particular topic."
The first Grower Gateway was launched on Tuesday, July 18, and topics covered range from the latest results on blight fungicide trials to the value of compost to improve soils.
"We're keen to ensure we deliver the right information at the right time to growers and would value any feedback that will improve the service," says Dr Clayton.
A tiered approach has been taken with Grower Gateway, he explains. The newsletter contains short summary points on six to eight items of research and link through to short articles that expand on the latest developments in this area, or highlight previous research that may be topical.
For those that wish to explore the topic in detail, there are also links within these articles that go through to the research documents themselves, or third-party websites where more information has been published.
"It also gives us the opportunity to remind growers of forthcoming events, new research-related publications that may be available or R&D material that has recently been published."
