Students of Heronstown and Newtown NS tour the potato production line at Meade Potato Co. to prepare for National Potato Day. Photo by Jeni Meade

The potato was centre stage in the run-up to National Potato Day as Meath-based fresh produce grower/packer/distributor Meade Potato Co. opened their farm to students from local schools and foodies from the Boyne Valley Food Series.

Heronstown NS and Newtown NS took advantage of behind the scenes tours from the field to fork to learn how potatoes are grown and their many nutritional benefits. The students then followed up the tour with classroom work on the potato and a ‘Dig Your Dinner’ event for National Potato Day on Friday, Oct. 6 at their school garden.

Meade Potato Co. partnered with the Boyne Valley Food Series, a leader in the area of foodie tourism, to put a potato celebration on the calendar of events for foodies with a farm tour and dinner.

Guests were shown all the hard work that goes into bringing the humble spud to their dinner plates and ended the evening with a meal that showed the diversity of the spud as a healthy meal ingredient.

These activities were all a part of the company’s efforts to support the ‘Potatoes – More Than a Bit on the Side’ campaign which is co-funded by the EU and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Irish Potato Industry (Irish Potato Federation representing potato packers and potato growers) as well as the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board for the UK campaign.