Rogueing seed potato crops to remove groundkeepers costs the industry £304,000 a year, a survey conducted for the Potato Council has shown.

Rogueing, which is the only permissible way of removing groundkeepers in seed crops, cost an average of £19/ha, said Daan Kiezebrink of the Scottish Agricultural College.

“Some 71% of the respondents to the survey said groundkeepers were a problem on their farms, while 17% had stocks downgraded as a result, with an average loss of £1,930.”

Seventy-one percent also had land they were not using as a result of groundkeepers, the survey found.

Removing groundkeepers was easiest in cereals and oilseed rape, Dr Kiezebrink said. “After harvest, it is worth using minimum-tillage rather than ploughing to keep the tubers on the surface to keep them available for frost to degrade.”

Potatoes in practice