When Dr Jack Dunnett and Marcel Guindi joined forces to set up Caithness Potato Breeders Ltd they could not have dared to imagine the prolific success of the Caithness breeding programme.

It was a full ten years after Dr Dunnett made his courageous move to Caithness from Pentlandfield before the first varieties Stemster and Nadine were National Listed.

Only 17 years have passed in the meantime and yet Caithness Breeders now hold the Plant Variety Rights to 15 named varieties, which between them have around 18000 tonnes of commercial production and a combined turnover of over £6 million.

CPB also has significant interests in France where around 200 hectares of Stemster are produced, and in Australia and New Zealand where Nadine is a dominant variety. In New Zealand, Nadine accounts for around 70% of the fresh market.