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How to increase potato yield by 55%

Greenvale’s Growers’ Day Attracts Bumper Crop

Paul Coleman at the Greenvale Growers Day, Feb 11 2009 When are the best times to irrigate a potato crop? What are the ramifications of the latest changes on pesticide use? What’s the significance of the chronological age of a seed potato – and how can it dramatically change size and yield?

These and many other significant questions were answered at Greenvale AP’s Growers’ Day, held at the Haycock Hotel near Peterborough on February 11, 2009. The event was oversubscribed – around 40 growers were expected and over 50 actually attended, coming from all over the UK, despite atrocious weather conditions.

The day focused on Vales Sovereign, the new ‘all-rounder’ potato variety developed by Greenvale and currently sold exclusively through Tesco. Sales of the popular new variety are growing rapidly from an already impressive base of 15,000 tonnes, with Tesco planning for 60,000 tonnes over the next 18 months.

Speakers included Tim Pratt, produce technical manager for Tesco, Mark Stalham of  Cambridge University Farm (CUF), Robert Baird, procurement manager Greenvale Cambridgeshire, and Paul Coleman, Greenvale’s technical director. After the presentations lunch was served, with Vales Sovereign on the menu in mashed, roast and wedge recipes. In the afternoon the growers visited Tesco’s state of the art distribution centre at Peterborough.

Breaking into the Tesco Top Ten
Robert Baird opened proceedings, pointing out that while Vales Sovereign is popular with customers because of its versatility and taste, it is also an increasingly popular choice for growers, because it is resistant to disease and needs less nitrogen and irrigation than other varieties. "Black dot has been the bane of many varieties for several years – it’s good news that Vales Sovereign is so resistant to the disease," he said.

Tim Pratt presented Tesco’s view of Vales Sovereign. "It’s already made the top twenty in sales of potatoes and will make the top ten soon – it will probably end up in the top five," he said. He praised the potato’s "fantastic" versatility and confirmed that it was becoming a very important variety for Tesco – in fact, it had won the Tesco Fresh Variety of the Year Award for 2008.

He added that Vales Sovereign is one of the very few successful named varieties to be developed over the past fifty years.

Paul Coleman then brought growers up to speed on the ‘changing face of weed control’ – highlighting the need to adopt new regimes, in the light of new regulations such as the reduction in maximum legal dosage of Linuron. Paul also detailed the changes to nematicide usage that have come about following improved monitoring of crop residues.

Chronological age: 333 is better than 303
Paul Coleman then explained how Greenvale’s tests with the chronological age of seed potatoes had shown dramatic increases in stems for the dormant variety of Vales Sovereign. The chronological age is the period from the initiation of the tuber on the mother crop to the date of planting the seed. The tests showed that seed potatoes with a chronological age of 333 days delivered much higher stem numbers than those of 303 days. The result is the need to match seed rates to the age of the seed. As a result, all Greenvale’s Vales Sovereign crops will be planted as early as possible.

The target for Vales Sovereign growers is 188,000 stems per hectare. With 55mm-sized seed, 55,500 were required using 303-day seeds, but only 35,600 using 333-day seed.

He also confirmed that Greenvale were investing in a major research programme with Cambridge University Farm (CUF) to model 15 Vales Sovereign fields with the objective of giving growers highly targeted feedback on areas such as irrigation and nitrogen uptake and yield potential in a variety of conditions.

To irrigate, or not to irrigate…
Mark Stalham’s presentation demonstrated the latest thinking on irrigation techniques. He asked ‘do we always need to irrigate?’ and while the answer was broadly yes, the specifics were critical – not only for yield but also in combating cracking and scab. Water use efficiency (WUE) is the name of the game – get the timings right and there are huge potential benefits.

CUF has developed a software economic model showing how different responses to SMD (soil moisture deficit) affect yield. The model is based on 20 years of data; the user inputs different SMD and irrigation figures and the programme works out their impact on yield and profit figures.

Mark also highlighted that Vales Sovereign produces good yields with less irrigation than other varieties, a result of its rooting and canopy characteristics.

The bottom line? WUE varies according to variety, growth and soil conditions. Growers must avoid over-watering, even on scabby soil, and vary their irrigation pattern to suit their crop.

"We were absolutely delighted with the support from growers attending the day," said Sue Gilbert, Greenvale’s group marketing manager. "Even more pleasing was that they clearly found the event stimulating and useful. What’s more, we have had an excellent response – most of the growers who came have either already decided to grow Vales Sovereign, or plan to do it as soon as they can."

For more information visit the Greenvale AP website at www.greenvale.co.uk

 

Editor’s notes
Greenvale AP is the UK’s leading supplier of fresh potatoes and was awarded the Queens Award for Innovation in 2006. Greenvale AP now supplies the UK’s premier retailers, caterers and processing outlets with quality potatoes, meeting the high standards demanded by the UK market.

Greenvale AP has developed sites in the major potato growing areas across the UK, resulting in three state of the art potato-packing operations situated in Shropshire, Berwickshire and Cambridgeshire. The company also has sales and marketing offices across the UK, including in Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Herefordand Yorkshire. Greenvale AP’s Seed Potato operation is managed from a specialist office at Burrelton, near Perthin Scotland.

Vales Sovereign, a new potato variety from Greenvale AP, won ‘Variety of the Year’ in the Tesco Fresh Produce Category Awards, held on November 20th 2008 at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Announcing the award, Alex Dower, the Category Director for Tesco, commended both the sales performance and Greenvale’s work in escalating the availability of Vales Sovereign.

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