| Potatoes
Newest Strategic Potato Farm aiming for ‘better
quality for customers’
Quality is paramount for RJ and AE Godfrey, a mixed arable farm in North Lincolnshire, which has joined AHDB’s Farm
Excellence Network.
he farm grows
around 440 ha of
main-crop
potatoes for the
packing market
each year, in a
rotation including peas, sugar
beet, wheat, oilseed rape and
linseed. It will become Strategic
Potato (SPot) Farm North and act
as a hub for farmer-to-farmer
learning in the region.
Director Alex Godfrey said:
“We’re always interested in what
we can do better when it comes to
growing potatoes and we thought
this was a fantastic opportunity to
see some of the newest
developments applied on our farm.
“We hope this will benefit others
in the region as well. We’re looking
forward to sharing what we do and
T
hearing what ideas other growers
have. We know there is some
fantastic knowledge out there.”
The business supplies the
majority of its crop to the ‘free-buy’
market. Farm Manager Will Gagg
says this makes crop quality of
paramount importance.
He said: “If we can achieve
better quality in store and to our
customers I’ll be very happy. If we
can fine-tune and gain small
amounts, one per cent here,
another per cent there, it will be a
very positive thing. Of course we
will be looking to share those
gains with others in the local
industry.”
The farm spans the
Lincolnshire/Yorkshire border and
includes two soil types, a sandy
loam on the Lincolnshire Wolds
and silts on the Isle of Axholme.
Will is encouraging growers from
both counties and soil types to
attend a series of four events to be
held on farm over the summer.
Trials will include varieties grown
for both the packing and
processing sectors.
He added: “The wold and the
silt soils provide completely
different challenges. On the wold
land, we get fantastic yield, but it is
harder to hold skin-finish in store
long-term. On silts we get a
fantastic skin-finish that holds well
in store but moisture in the soil can
make lifting conditions very tricky.”
Growers and agronomists
interested in the work at SPot
North can contact AHDB Potatoes
Knowledge Exchange Manager for
the region, Graham Bannister.
Graham said: “Alex and Will
want to lead honest and open
discussions on how to make
positive change on farm. I am sure
Northern potato growers will be as
excited as I am to have them on
board.”
“Inspiration for farmers to adopt
new technologies and make
beneficial changes on farm must
come from voices they are familiar
with and trust. This is why AHDB is
investing £1 million in our Farm
Excellence Platform, across more
than 50 farms in 2018, to build on
and create new groups to allow
more farmers to see action on
farm and channel innovation to
those that can use it the most.”
Water conservation agent trials
show potato yield increase
Trials have proven that using a water conservation agent can significantly
increase potato yields, which could bring in an extra £1,100 per hectare 1 ,
while reducing irrigation water use by approximately 25% 2 .
hese results come
at a key time for
the agricultural
industry as many
growers look to
consider how they
can reduce water consumption
and improve farm efficiency. This
is in anticipation of a shift in farm
subsidy payments that will reward
sustainable practices.
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“Further testing has proven that
H2Flo can reduce the amount
of water applications by 25%,
saving on overall water and
pumping costs”
One farmer who has
experienced the benefits of a water
conservation agent first hand, is
Norfolk based Tim Papworth.
“We applied H2Flo to a block of
Royal potatoes, mixed with our
standard blight spray, and left an
adjacent block untreated, on a
well-drained sandy loam area of
one of our farms near North
Walsham,” says Tim.
Dr Richard Collins, ICL technical
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
sales manager, explains that the
final digs on Tim’s farm showed
that the treated plot yielded at a
higher level that the untreated site,
with an increase of 11 tonnes from
61.45 t/ha to 72.63 t/ha.
“This improvement in
productivity could directly improve
farm profits by over £1000 per
hectare and can be attributed to
the way in which H2Flo works.
“The product contains a blend
of surfactants that alters the water
surface tension. Therefore, this
increased the spread of water
through the soil profile of the
treated crop, and improved re-
wetting of the soil, making it more
readily available for the plants,” he
says.
“However, the untreated plot
maintained a constant moisture
level with minimal pla nt uptake,
which would decrease even further
if dry conditions continued.”
Richard goes on to outline the
additional benefits of the product.
“Further testing has proven that
H2Flo can reduce the amount of
water applications by 25%, saving
on overall water and pumping
costs.”
With this in
mind, and the
pleasing results
from his own
trial, Mr Papworth
plans to put the
product to the
test again this
season, trying it
out on a
considerably larger
area with multiple
varieties of potato.
“Given the
significant cost to
purchase and apply
water, at roughly
£99/hectare metre, I’m
really interested to test the
water saving benefits for
myself,” says Tim.
“We use an average of 0.67
hectare metres of water in a
normal year, which costs us in
the region of £8,600, so any saving
would be a huge benefit to us and
the environment.”
1
Based on a yield increase of
11t/ha and an average price of
£100/t for potatoes
2
Based on trials carried out by
Amega Sciences
April 2018 | Farming Monthly | 19