British growers are benefiting from longer potato-based rotations that help improve economic performance and reduce disease pressure, finds new report from GB Potatoes
Longer potato rotations can deliver almost 40 per cent more food than cereal-based rotations, according to a new report by GB Potatoes.
Research that has compared potato-based with cereal-based farm rotations has found significant benefits to yields, disease resistance, and a mixed farm’s economic performance.
“Potatoes are key to many rotations with the growers I work with,” said Harvest Agronomy agronomist, Mark Taplin.
“Without them, and a reliance on cereal crops means that the economic performance of the farm can be very marginal at the moment.”
Potato rotations of six years are now common in the UK with many growers rotating fields for longer.
UK potato rotations are some of the longest in the world, as some countries still grow potatoes one in every three years, the report said.
“We are leading the way in using long, robust rotations to deliver large volumes of nutritiously dense food from every hectare, while improving the sustainability of production,” said GB Potatoes CEO, Scott Walker.
Agronomist Mark Stalham said crops with longer rotations have helped British potato growers achieve reduced disease and pest risk.
“PCN and fungal disease decline rates are long – it takes about 10 years to reduce incidence to five per cent of the original level,” he said.
“There are lots of situations where growers believe their rotations have been too tight especially where there has been a build-up of pests and disease such as PCN and rhizoctonia,” added Taplin.
“The market is also less tolerant of the quality issues that arise from potatoes diseases and defects,” he said.
Yorkshire grower Andrew Wilson said rotations on his rented land vary from four to six years. “Most of our spring crops are preceded by muck and/or cover crops, except for the peas,” he said.
“We realised long ago that good soil management was essential for the farm to thrive, with a diverse rotation important for crop performance to be maintained.”
Wilson produces six other crops between potatoes, including wheat, malting barley, vining peas and sugar beet, as well as a range of cover crops.
Processors and packers are also seeing the benefit of longer rotations. McCain is investigating the benefits of mixed livestock and crop system based on rotations and improving soil at its newly opened UK Farm of the Future.
In New Zealand, the processor has found improving rotations has delivered a 25 per cent increase in potato yields since the early 2000s, with a nine per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Potato packer Branston has said using rotations on its concept farm has helped bring low-carbon potatoes to the Tesco shelves.
