Sutton Bridge crop storage facility to be sold
© Brown & Co The AHDB has confirmed the Sutton Bridge Crop Storage Research (SBCSR) facility will hit the open market shortly, as the winding down of activity across AHDB Potatoes continues.
The facility, based in south Lincolnshire, has been the primary source of independent advice on post-harvest potato storage since the 1960s.
Rob Clayton, AHDB Potatoes strategy director, said the decision was disappointing, but an “inevitable consequence” following the outcome of the levy payer vote earlier this year.
See also: Alarm at impending crop storage facility closure
This was the ballot in March 2021 in which 66% of respondents voted in favour of discontinuing the potato levy.
“The AHDB has now started the decommissioning that will bring about the site’s closure in December 2021, leading to the sale of the site, on the open market, with proceeds returned to levy funds,” said Mr Clayton.
“The people on site are working with colleagues across the AHDB to ensure the research work, historic data and the many achievements of the Sutton Bridge team are captured within the winding-down process and remain accessible long into the future, to ensure the legacy lives on.”
Sale details
Brown & Co has been appointed to manage the sale of the 2.78-acre site, which is formed of three principal buildings.
The facilities include office space, laboratory space for research, meeting rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, staff room, controlled-atmosphere stores for storage research, workshop and storage space.
The scientific equipment and potato processing/handling equipment on site will also be offered for sale, so an incomer could undertake similar research.
It is thought some of this equipment would also lend itself to research into the storage of other crops.
John Smithson Whitehead of Brown & Co said it was anticipated there could be interest from universities or institutions that wanted to offer students or researchers the opportunity to deliver future research into crop storage.
“The second major buyer group is large-scale – perhaps international – agricultural businesses seeking to undertake in-house research to develop and improve their own storage capability, thus helping them to become and remain market leaders.”
The sale will be by informal tender, with interested parties asked to submit sealed bids. No guide price is yet available.
History of Sutton Bridge
The site started as Sutton Bridge Experimental Station in 1964, run by the Potato Marketing Board. In the 1960s, the big challenge was how best to store potatoes in buildings, rather than field clamps.
In the 1980s, the research focus moved to achieving more precision in storage regimes, with researchers developing their understanding of the problems of cold temperatures and senescent sweetening.
Use of chemicals was commonplace, with products such as thiabendazole, tecnazene and chlorpropham (CIPC) widely employed for disease and sprout control.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, work was focusing on black dot control for better quality in the fresh sector and how to move away from old-school chemistry.
More recently, helping the industry to reduce its reliance on CIPC has been the major challenge, and Sutton Bridge has played a key role in helping to find alternative solutions.
