Damage awareness is one of the key topics to be discussed at the North of England Potato Day to be held at Headley Hill Farm, Tadcaster, Yorkshire on September 4. The strong line-up of speakers will include Eric Anderson from Scottish Agronomy, Barry Baker of Grimme, who will be discussing the challenges posed this year by the difficult weather conditions and how growers can best tackle them.
“If the current wet spell continues until harvest, growers will have to adjust their settings from last year, when conditions were very dry,” says Grimme sales director Barry Baker. “More soil will be taken through the machine and so they will have to look at using larger webs to cope with this.
“Moreover, they will have to contend with deep ruts from when they have been spraying, which may cause problems from compaction and standing water. It’s a good idea to store tubers from these areas separately as they may well be bruised as well as having wetter skins than those from other parts of the field.”
Chitted or non chitted seed – which is better? Rob Blades of McCain Foods Ltd will be discussing this important topic whilst soil structure and the problems associated with compaction will be discussed by Selwyn Richardson of ADAS.
Also at the event, SAC researcher Ruairidh Bain will be offering an update on Alternaria and Jane Thomas of NIAB will be looking at the potential of mineral oil for virus control.
“It’s a practical day and delegates will be able to speak directly with specialists about their specific issues,” says Potato Council technical executive Phil Bradshaw who is organising the event. “The workshops last 30 minutes each and growers will be able to choose which ones to attend. There will also be varieties and trials and the latest machinery to view and the event offers great opportunities for networking.”
“It’s a practical day and delegates will be able to speak directly with specialists about their specific issues,” says Potato Council technical executive Phil Bradshaw who is organising the event. “The workshops last 30 minutes each and growers will be able to choose which ones to attend. There will also be varieties and trials and the latest machinery to view and the event offers great opportunities for networking.”
The North of England Potato Day is organised by Potato Council in conjunction with industry stakeholders, and the major sponsor is Agrii.
To reserve your place, contact Miya Kotecha on miya.kotecha@potato.ahdb.org.uk or go to www.potato.org.uk/events and fill out the online registration form.
