Photo: Mr John Marshall talking teacher’s through the content of his Classroom Talks at the Teacher’s Briefing held at WCF Horticulture.

WCF Horticulture, a leading packer and supply chain manager to the horticultural sector, specialising in seed potatoes, are helping local schools around Perth and Kinross to dig deep in a bid to educate them about the origins of the food they eat.

The Mr Jazzy Potato Project, organised by the Perth & Kinross Initiative of the Royal Highland Educational Trust (RHET) and sponsored by WCF Horticulture, encourages classes to grow and harvest their own potatoes from scratch.

This year there are a record-breaking 50 classes taking part in the project, which aims to show the children the gradually unfolding story of the spud and how food and farming are linked.

The project was launched this week when teacher’s attended a briefing session and collected their Jazzy seed potatoes, Haddo grow bags and compost – all donated by WCF. The classes will now spend four months caring for the potatoes culminating in a visit from a RHET volunteer who will assist with the harvesting, counting and weighing of the potatoes.

Miriam Doe, Seed Manager of WCF Horticulture, said “Jazzy is a premium salad variety which is making a big impact on the UK Potato Scene.  Jazzy is already a fun brand which really engaged the children last year and they particularly enjoyed the prolific nature of the variety. The Mr Jazzy Potato Project is fun and educational 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”.

In addition, schools are visited by RHET’s own ‘Potato Professor’ Mr John Marshall who talks pupils through how we eat potatoes, how they grow, how they are farmed, the different varieties and the health benefits of the mighty spud! 

Alix Ritchie, Project Coordinator at The Royal Highland Educational Trust Perth & Kinross said “We have had great support from the teachers who are all very enthusiastic about the project. This year we have created a Teacher’s pack which has a number of different worksheets for pupils linking with many of the Learning Outcomes within The Curriculum for Excellence.”