Farmer Focus: Potato enthusiasm wanes as industry struggles
© Angela Waites Photography I am a lifetime potato grower and passionate about our industry, but my optimism and enthusiasm has waned in recent years.
“Sustainable” is an overused phrase of late – ultimately, farming can only be sustainable if it is profitable in at least an average, not just an exceptional, year.
See also: Video: Camera technology improves marketability for potato growers
About the author
This year’s potato harvest started on 25 September and was finished by 18 October, with only a couple of wet days to delay us. Yields were decidedly uninspiring, but quality on the whole decent.
Storage, though, is as much of a challenge as growing the things. Very mild night-time temperatures have not allowed any amount of pull-down to occur, increasing dormancy break.
This year, we are evaluating dimethylnaphthalene (DMN) in our crisping store, at least as first application, and will stick with (slightly) cheaper ethylene on the chipping varieties.
Our stores are mostly bulk ambient and, with our electricity price tripling in recent months, we’re avoiding using the one fridge we have as much as possible.
We do have 48kW of rooftop solar and would like more, but the cost has doubled in the past year. Potato profitability is in the doldrums, so there isn’t spare money to invest.
Ever price takers, in a few weeks we will know contract prices for next year and will have decisions to make on what varieties and how many to grow. One thing is for sure, our potato area will reduce, as will be the case for many other growers.
On a more positive note, we started lifting beet last week, and early deliveries into the Newark factory suggest an average sugar of 17%, dirt tare of 4.5% and yield around the 75t/ha mark.
This is much better than it looked a month ago. Sugar beet was flagged flat on the floor in the hot, dry summer but has amazing resilience. One key reason for persisting with the crop is its consistent performance in our rotation.
Winter cereals have established well, and our journey down the strip-till route looks to be the correct one. The savings we have made in cultivation are significant, but we have retained our old faithful combi-drill as it is still king for things such as wheat after potatoes.
