That's fair enough. I assume you will follow his sagely advice and kill off any potatoes you see on local allotments to reduce the potential for blight in the future.

The extinction of badgers in the British Isles is also recommended by the farming community (despite inconclusive scientific evidence), but as always we should bow to their superiour knowledge of the natural world, just as we did when they decided to start feeding meat to herbivores. I hope you'll excuse a little scepticism from me.

As for the promotion of potato products, I think they have done a fantastic job. Here is my favourite recent campaign http://youtu.be/bPsY_nhTtxg