Researchers at the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC), a centre of excellence housed at The James Hutton Institute’s Invergowrie campus, are leading efforts to improve crop storage resilience, helping safeguard food supplies, reduce waste and support growers facing the challenges of climate change and changing agricultural systems.
As Scotland’s climate becomes increasingly unpredictable, the ability to store crops effectively is becoming just as important as the ability to grow them. While food security is often associated with crop production, researchers at the Hutton are highlighting the critical role that post-harvest storage plays in ensuring a stable, year-round food supply.
Crop storage acts as a vital bridge between harvest and consumption. It allows seasonal produce to be available throughout the year, reduces losses caused by spoilage and deterioration and helps protect farmers and consumers from market volatility.
For potatoes in particular, storage is essential. As one of Scotland’s most important agricultural crops and a staple food worldwide, potatoes must often be stored for several months after harvest before reaching processors, retailers and consumers.
Once lifted from the ground, however, potatoes are highly perishable and without proper storage they lose weight, sprout, rot and become harder to market or consume.
This is especially important in Scotland where production is seasonal and transport and the processing infrastructure is not necessarily close by. In those settings, storage can act as a buffer against local crop failure, supply interruptions and volatile prices, making the food system more resilient. Put simply, storage turns a harvest into a reserve.
Scotland has already experienced significant changes in weather patterns, with winters becoming wetter and extreme weather events occurring more frequently. Northern and western regions have seen up to a 50% increase in precipitation compared to the mid-20th century.
Erratic rainfall, higher temperatures and periods of drought are creating growing challenges for agricultural producers and affecting both crop performance and post-harvest quality.
Warmer temperatures can increase the risk of spoilage and premature sprouting during storage, while extreme weather can affect harvesting schedules and crop handling, influencing how well produce stores over time. Storage is increasingly part of climate adaptation, not just post-harvest management.
To address these challenges, Hutton researchers are examining the relationship between growing conditions and storage performance, helping to understand how environmental stresses before harvest can influence quality, shelf life and marketability afterwards.
The APGC’s crop storage research facility enables scientists to recreate and monitor a wide range of storage environments, allowing them to study how temperature, humidity and atmospheric conditions affect crop quality over time.
The facility supports research into practical solutions that can help growers, processors and supply chains reduce losses while maintaining high-quality produce.
Importantly, results generated through storage research also feed directly into crop breeding programmes. By identifying the traits that contribute to better storage performance, researchers can help develop new potato varieties capable of maintaining quality for longer periods, ultimately strengthening resilience throughout the food supply chain.
This work is becoming increasingly important as agriculture evolves towards more sustainable and regenerative production systems. While these systems offer environmental benefits, they can also introduce new stresses that affect crop quality and storage behaviour, creating additional research challenges and opportunities.
Alongside traditional storage science, researchers are exploring the use of innovative technologies to improve crop preservation.
Controlled atmosphere storage systems, which regulate oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity levels, can significantly slow crop ageing and reduce spoilage. These technologies help extend storage life while maintaining the appearance, texture and nutritional quality required by processors and consumers.
Researchers integrate smart monitoring systems that provide real-time data on storage conditions, enabling immediate adjustments to ensure produce retains its freshness and nutritional value. This not only helps maintain crop quality but can also support more efficient logistics and supply chain management, ensuring produce reaches markets in the best possible condition.
The implications of this work extend far beyond individual farms or storage facilities.
Effective crop storage helps reduce food waste, improves resource efficiency and supports a more reliable food system. By preserving more of what is grown, storage research contributes directly to food security and helps maximise the value of Scotland's agricultural output, aligning with Scottish Government’s National Good Food Nation Plan
The ultimate goal is that every possible tonne of food produced can be safely stored, marketed and consumed.
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