News on Potato Cultivation from United Kingdom

A biostimulant brand that is increasingly popular with potato growers will make its debut at this year’s British Potato show in Harrogate. Algifol, which is a seaweed-based biostimulant, will be on stand 123A in Hall 1 at the November event.

The UK potato sector has been going through a better spell this year, but it did take a long time for the potato shortage to feed back to growers as there was still crop from the previous year on the market and the prices didn’t increase until around mid-May.

Extreme weather incidents are serving to rock Europe’s potato industry to its very foundations. Last year was actually the second warmest year on record in Europe. The drought conditions resulted in a dramatic downturn in overall potato output.

CNH Industrial and ONE SMART SPRAY, a joint venture between Bosch and BASF, have signed a collaboration agreement to integrate the latter’s advanced spraying system within CNH Industrial’s agricultural brand product portfolios.

Extreme weather events pose a significant challenge to potato cultivation. Heat and drought stress reduces productivity, causes physiological defects in tubers, and damages crops.

A new predictive method has shown a way to better select parents for new potato varieties, offering a blueprint for better potatoes and a way to speed up the production of higher yield varieties.

Defra and UKRI, as part of the Farming Innovation Programme, recently announced funding for 'Potato-LITE' – a multimillion pound project over four years

Ground-Sensing technology TuberScan - developed by Agri-tech business B-hive Innovations and partners - is entering its final phase of testing both overseas and now in the UK following the start of this year’s weather-delayed potato growing season.

Following the success of last year’s demonstration programme, GRIMME UK is once again giving people a chance to see the GL 420 Exacta potato planter in operation.

In light of the new rules in the United Kingdom on the use of inhibited urea, announced on 22 March, farmers are being encouraged to check levels of efficiency when purchasing urea, to maximise their investment when complying to new regulations.

With weed control a key challenge for farmers, and reduced sensitivity to some herbicides a continuing problem. New product trials by FMC have demonstrated that effective controls are on the horizon.

Tips to improve soil health from David Newton of Timac Agro for farmers in England to help them meet the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ‘arable soils’ standard.

Farmers across Scotland are being urged to have their soils tested and analysed in the face of continuing high input prices and ahead of changes to Scottish agricultural support schemes.

Biostimulants can act as an insurance policy for growers this spring, especially as another wave of frosts threatens to knock crops back. So far, winter has been wet and except some sharp frosts, relatively mild – resulting in many autumn sown crops being further forward than usual.

Leading UK potato supplier Greenvale AP Ltd has partnered with Trinity AgTech to roll out Trinity’s natural capital navigator, Sandy, to farms across the country, supporting them in credibly and confidently analysing and reaching their environmental targets.

BP (British Potato), the key calendar date for all those operating in or supplying to the British potato industry, will have a new owner/organiser for its next event in November 2023.

Without phosphorus food cannot be produced, since all plants and animals need it to grow. Put simply: if there is no phosphorus, there is no life. As such, phosphorus-based fertilisers – it is the "P" in "NPK" fertiliser – have become critical to the global food system.

Farmers are being urged to choose fertiliser products wisely for upcoming spring nitrogen applications – to maximise yields with less inputs.