British Potato Council
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The British Potato Council is a non-departmental public body whose mission is to develop and promote Britain's potato industry.
The BPC promotes the health benefits of potatoes to the general public, showing how potatoes are low in both fat and calories and packed full of vitamins and minerals. The industry invests significant amounts of effort in teaching children about healthy eating and showing how potatoes are grown. Many of the industry's farmers work hard to re-connect children to their food, by spending time working with children in schools and on their farms, showing how they plant, grow and harvest their crops. The BPC, which has 56 employees, raises all of its money from a compulsory levy on potato growers and seed merchants and receives no funding from the government. It is based in Cowley in Oxfordshire. There is a Scottish office in Newbridge in Midlothian and an experimental station in Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire. It was set up by the Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997.
[edit] Britain's most Useless Quango
The BPC was reported by the Sunday Times to have been voted Britain’s most useless quango by a now-defunct website that monitored public spending. The runners-up were said to include include the Milk Development Council (MDC, based in Cirencester) and the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA, based in London).
