Cygnet PB Ltd and Cygnet-PEP Ltd have acquired the seed potato assets and breeding programme of Higgins Agriculture Ltd.
Current contracts and sales agreements for seed crop 2016 will be finalised by Higgins Agriculture Ltd before production ceases.
Production of export varieties including Atlantic will be incorporated into Cygnet-PEP Ltd for seed crop 2017 and onwards; variety production for the domestic market such as Olympus and Morene will similarly be incorporated into Cygnet PB Ltd.
Both companies look forward to discussing on-going requirements with both growers and customers to ensure a smooth handover in the coming weeks.
The acquisition further strengthens Cygnet-PEP’s position in the export of Scottish seed potatoes to North-Africa, Middle- and Far-East while the purchase of the breeding programme adds a strong processing focus to Cygnet PB’s variety development programme.
The purchase includes several clones currently going through National Listing tests in the UK and in trial with several packing and processing businesses here and overseas.
