THIS season’s potato crops have experienced the whole gamut of the UK weather, from frosts to heatwaves and from drought to localised flooding.
With showery weather prevalent, potato late blight (phytophthora infestans) programmes got underway, and the Perfecting Potatoes Together initiative had a look at how the season is going for agronomists and growers.
In Scotland, Senior Agronomist at Scottish Agronomy Ltd, Eric Anderson, who looks after 7,500ha of both ware and seed crops, said the planting season had been very easy and progressed well, with crops emerging evenly.
Farm Manager of The Wicken Farms in Kings Lynn, Toby Hogsbjerg, is growing 75ha of potatoes on the 940ha ring-fenced estate. Here, the land, which ranges from blowing sand to sandy clay loam, is fully irrigated.
Planting also went well for the 300ha of potatoes that Lucinda Smith, Agronomist with Dyson Farming, looks after near Nocton in Lincolnshire, where the recently-opened Dyson Farming Research Centre is situated.
Toby said: “It was the easiest planting season that we have ever had, we were done in 11 days, soil conditions were good and we had no rain breaks until we finished on the April 10th.
“We do as little as possible to the fields to get them ready for potatoes. We cover crop from July, graze with sheep and then the cover crop is destroyed. This year the fields are light, cover crops did well and we didn’t get rain so we were in with a Sumo trio followed by a ridger and then the de-stoner.”
For Lucinda, planting was slightly delayed to accommodate the changing weather pattern. “We have a large variety of soil types, so ground preparation is tailored to the individual fields,” she said. “We began planting just before Easter, slightly later than in previous years, as we were waiting for the soils to warm up and finished on the May 10th.”
This year Lucinda has a dozen varieties in the ground, predominantly for pre-pack. Dual purpose varieties like Elland are valued as they spread the risk.
She said: “We can grow Elland on Nocton Heath where we struggle with stone content, so might get some bruising but the skin finish is good. We assess it at harvest to see whether it would make packing or not.”
Toby’s potatoes are all for processing: Premier and Desiree for potato waffles, and King Russets and Royal, for French fries.
