•
POTATO CONFERENCE
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
JANUARY 2017
varieties and rotation length.
“PCN requires both short term
and long termmanagement,”
explainedMatthew. “You
cannot rely on a single type of
management technique and
any population density needs
managing in some form. As an
industry we need to spend
more time on varietal
resistance. We have aggravated
the problem by growing non-
resistant varieties.”
The effectiveness of varietal
resistance to
G. rostochiensis
has been shown by the fall in
numbers and Sebastian Eves-
van den Akker of the University
of Dundee explained that in
part this is due to the inbred
nature and limited genetic
variability in the species. In
contrast there are different
mitotypes of
G. pallida
. He is
actively working to determine
how thesemight be identified
genetically, whichwould
improve the process of
introducing new control
options such as resistant
varieties.
Strategic Potato Farms
One of themost popular
developments which AHDB
Potatoes has made over the last
year has been the introduction
of its Strategic Potato (SPot)
Farms. With plans to increase
the initiative tomore parts of
the UK, including smaller
growers, it was interesting to
hear from one of the first SPot
farmers, James Daw of family
companyW B Daw& Son in
Staffordshire. He attributed the
farm’s success to several things,
including proactivemanagement
by the family partners and a
combination of intensive
farmingwith environmental
schemes. However, it was the
company’s attitude to its
customers whichwas crucial he
said: “Above all we have
customer focus. Customer focus
is everything andwe enjoy their
company. Toomany farmers do
not get this approach.”
As well as talking to and
meeting customers to
understand their requirements,
he said that the business “would
not be what it is without
agronomists.” James has worked
with CUF andMark Stalham for
almost ten years, although he
said that over that time they had
disagreed about things.
As part of the SPot Farm
project Mark had been advising
on reducing cultivation depth
to improve soil quality and the
scale of the problem had been
brought home to James when
an aerial conductivity survey of
soil type had clearly shown
areas of significant compaction.
“As a result we’ve
stopped planting 10 per
cent of our potato area,”
he explained, adding
that such amajor
decisionwas only
possible with the
support of his
customers. The change
to cultivation practices
has also delivered fuel
savings of 25-20 per
cent.
Other recent
agronomic developments
have including the
development of a large
‘mega-chitting’ system
withMatt Smallwood of
McCain Foods, using drones to
count plant numbers and
monitor emergence and
sampling soils for free living
nematodes as part of an effort
to reduce spraign. “The key
thing is that you have to
involve the staff,” he added.
“We’re very open and
transparent with people.”
This was echoed by Mark
Stalham of NIAB CUF who
explained that reduced
cultivation depths could be
seen as part of a wider
programme of marginal gains,
the type of thingwhich has
seen Team Sky Cyclingwin the
Tour de France in just three
years.
“Improving by just 1 per cent
isn’t notable, and in some
cases it isn’t evenmeasurable
with any confidence, but it can
be just as meaningful,
especially in the long term,” he
explained.
As an example, the changes
to cultivations at W B Daw&
Son had produced a 1 per cent
increase in yield, 35 per cent
savings in costs and hadmade
the process 4 per cent faster by
allowing the removal of
a bed tilling operation.
Despite the
development of such
initiatives, some
growers still question
what the levy boards
are able to deliver for
them. James Daw
admits he has been in
such a position himself
and stressed that the
best remedy was to
engage with AHDB
directly. “I get far more
value from the levy
board than I used to,”
he added.
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Matthew Back, Harper Adams
University.
SPot farmer James Daw of W B Daw& Sons.
Therewas a good level of engagement and
discussion throughout the day.
