Dr John Kerr

Head of Potato Branch Telephone Number +44(0)131 244 8945 Email Address john.kerr@sasa.gsi.gov.uk

Research interests/Areas of expertise

• Potato Certification and industry support. I have a particular focus on maintaining appropriate official controls to ensure the plant health measures in place to protect Scotland’s Potato industry remain proportionate and robust in a changing environment.
• International promotion and standard setting. I attend UNECE meetings ensuring that the UK has a voice in international standard setting. We work to ensure Scotland is known throughout the world for quality seed production.

Biography

• I have a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from Glasgow University where I studied the use of novel crops for phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated land.
• I joined SASA in 2000 as a pesticide usage surveyor and went on to work within the GM inspectorate during the period of the Farm Scale GM evaluation trials in Scotland. I have been working in Potato section, which I now lead, since 2004.