The Orkney Herald ran a competition in 1925 for who could produce the largest potato in the islands.
At the end of October they were proud to report that a potato of the Great Scot Variety, weighing 33 1/2 ounces (over 949 grams) had been grown by Mr W. Scott at Heathfield, St Ola. The massive tattie was put on show in the window of The Orkney Herald office.
However, it was also reported that the largest seen by the reporter was a 2 1/4 lb (about 1021 grams) grown by Mr Robertson of Wing, Longhope.
Up for grabs was a prize of 7shillings and 6 pence – that’s £15.40 in today’s money. The challenge was on .
Great Scot Potatoes were developed in 1909 from a cross between Imperator and Champion potatoes. There are conflicting reports on who developed the potato. It was a time when growers were trying to produce disease resistant varieties. The Dumfries and Galloway Standard of 19 January 1916 reports that
“The Great Scot variety of potato which came out so well out of the Scottish Board of Agriculture’s wart disease test was raised from seed by Mr A. Mair, Meikleholm, and not Mr A. W. McAlister, Dumfries, as stated in our last issue. Mr McAlister writes: ‘Mr Mair is entitled to all the credit that is due for the success Great Scot has attained. The part I took was to put it on the market.'”
Today, if you look online, there are still competing claims to the development of the Great Scot variety which was so important at a time when food security was a government priority.
Fiona Grahame