- Location
- West Suffolk
Please let me be the first to say “potatoes!”
Id be interested to hear all about them.
Cheers
Gary
Id be interested to hear all about them.
Cheers
Gary
Potatoes
- Thread starter Sonoftheheir
- Start date
- Location
- Hammerwich
What an honour - being the first. Have set the Potato price tracker as a sticky in here as there were getting to be too many stickies in cropping.
- Location
- Yorkshire
Possibly the wettest start on record to a potato planting season, seen a bit done up on the Yorkshire wolds over the weekend, how bad are the conditions?
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
1983 was worse.
- Location
- Yorkshire
Im not old enough to remember that from a farming perspective, was the previous winter as bad as we've just had?
- Location
- South Wales UK
Watch their price rocket soon??
grim
Member
- Location
- south island new zealand
Other end of the world digging spuds , seed crisping variety
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
No but the spring was worse.
We finished 10 th June.
The same day Mrs Thatcher beat Micheal Foot.
- Location
- Yorkshire
I can recall some pretty horrendous potato harvests in the late 90's, towing every trailer out!
- Location
- South Shropshire
Guys local to me just starting to plough spud ground.
- Location
- East Yorkshire
Well underway up here.
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
Sorry that was Neil Kinnock, it was called the Falklands factor, she must have beaten Neil Kinock twice,
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
Maincrop potatoes do better planted May than April so no issue yet, I admit that could change, but the worst of the weather appears to be over now.
Ruston3w
Member
- Location
- south suffolk
Coming along, soon need some water, light but not coastal sand.
ridger
Member
- Location
- Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Minus 3 last night, potato shoots are 2 inches below surface thankfully
ridger
Member
- Location
- Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Silly article in newspaper on Saturday, proclaiming that new potatoes will be ready at start of June, and they just about emerged out of the ground
My mate has started his first earlies, £4/kg.
- Location
- JanDeGrootLand
Thought this may be of interest to Potato growers.
OBITUARY: John (Jack) Miller Dunnett MBE BSc(Agric) PhD (Edin) DUniv FRAgS. 1929-2024
Dr Jack Dunnett, internationally renowned potato breeder and Scottish potato industry pioneer, died peacefully in Norfolk on April 14, aged 95.
Jack was born on Tresdale farm in Canisbay, Caithness, in 1929. The second of three children of William Dunnet and Jessie Kennedy, his family roots ran deep in Caithness, where his forebears were farmers and lifeboatmen on the shores of the Pentland Firth.
Dr Jack Dunnett
Against the background of the Second World War he spent much of his youth helping out on the farm, developing a deep love for the flora and fauna of his native Caithness and sparking a lifelong passion for the natural environment.
On leaving Wick High School he spent two years of National Service in the Royal Signals Corps. His National Service gave him the opportunity to attend Edinburgh University where he studied scientific agriculture and botany, achieving a first-class honours degree. He often remarked that the only thing he got out of the army was his student grant.
During his undergraduate years he met his future wife, Evelyn Munro Bain, a fellow pupil from Wick High School who was studying English. Their relationship blossomed into a lifelong marriage, with children Gavin, Catriona and the late Michael, until Evelyn’s death in 1998. Long university summers were spent on the farm, fly fishing with his friend Douglas Waister and playing football for Pentland United.
A chance summer job roguing tatties pointed Jack in the direction of his first job at the Scottish Plant Breeding Station at Pentlandfield, near Edinburgh. Jack was part of the team who developed the successful ‘Pentland’ potato varieties.
His PhD studies into potato eelworm infestation and resistance also allowed him to spend many happy days in the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, a place that remained dear to his heart throughout his life.
The turning point came in 1976 when Jack had become increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the publicly-funded breeding programme at Pentlandfield and decided to return to his native Caithness to establish himself as a private potato breeder, following in the footsteps of famous Scots breeders such as Archibald Findlay, William Paterson and Donald Mackelvie.
Living in his parents’ old manse in Canisbay, he reopened Canisbay Youth Club where many a competitive game of unihoc and table tennis was fought.
The move into private breeding was made possible by the introduction of Plant Variety Rights, giving a royalty income to breeders. Even so, this was a huge risk at a time when plant breeding in the UK was dominated by state-funded institutions. He started to breed his own varieties, surviving in this lean period by growing high grade seed in partnership with local Caithness farmers and VTSC inspecting. He remarked wryly in his book, A Scottish Potato Breeder’s Harvest, that during this time he learnt a lot about the potato business that wasn’t taught at university.
Jack co-founded Caithness Potatoes in collaboration with a group of Perthshire potato merchants and was later joined by London-based entrepreneur, Marcel Guindi. His first variety, Stemster, was an early success but his second variety, Nadine, cemented his global reputation.
A string of successful varieties followed such as Valor, Swift, Winston, Argos, Kestrel, Harmony and Osprey. The Caithness group grew into an international Scottish based seed potato enterprise over the following decades.
• Related: Potato breeder’s honorary degree
In 1990 Jack and Evelyn moved to Clevnagreen, a 13-acre croft overlooking Freswick bay, where he continued his breeding programme. They attended many a daffodil tea and Burns night in the hall. He was proud to show off his beautiful garden at Clevnagreen to a succession of local gardening groups, when he would explain his approach to creating a semi-natural garden which would survive the coastal location and Caithness weather. Jack’s variety Kestrel remains a firm favourite with gardeners.
Jack’s achievements in the potato industry were recognised through a succession of industry awards, including the James Hardie memorial prize for potato research, the Haig Trophy and the World Potato Congress award. He received his MBE in 2004 for his services to the potato industry and, in 2012, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in Glasgow.
Jack began to write his memoirs in 2000, and, with his second wife Anne (Nancy) Houston, supported local projects including the construction of a new church hall for Canisbay church. They shared a love of local history and were keen to preserve Caithness traditions and dialect, until Nancy’s death in 2017. Jack recorded a piece for Wick Voices in 2015.
A memorial service for Jack will be held in Canisbay church on Sunday, July 21 at 3pm. His ashes will be interred privately by his family in Canisbay churchyard, in the Caithness soil from which he sprang.
Catriona Bailey and Gavin Dunnett
https://twitter.com/GroatNews
OBITUARY: John (Jack) Miller Dunnett MBE BSc(Agric) PhD (Edin) DUniv FRAgS. 1929-2024
Dr Jack Dunnett, internationally renowned potato breeder and Scottish potato industry pioneer, died peacefully in Norfolk on April 14, aged 95.
Jack was born on Tresdale farm in Canisbay, Caithness, in 1929. The second of three children of William Dunnet and Jessie Kennedy, his family roots ran deep in Caithness, where his forebears were farmers and lifeboatmen on the shores of the Pentland Firth.
Against the background of the Second World War he spent much of his youth helping out on the farm, developing a deep love for the flora and fauna of his native Caithness and sparking a lifelong passion for the natural environment.
On leaving Wick High School he spent two years of National Service in the Royal Signals Corps. His National Service gave him the opportunity to attend Edinburgh University where he studied scientific agriculture and botany, achieving a first-class honours degree. He often remarked that the only thing he got out of the army was his student grant.
During his undergraduate years he met his future wife, Evelyn Munro Bain, a fellow pupil from Wick High School who was studying English. Their relationship blossomed into a lifelong marriage, with children Gavin, Catriona and the late Michael, until Evelyn’s death in 1998. Long university summers were spent on the farm, fly fishing with his friend Douglas Waister and playing football for Pentland United.
A chance summer job roguing tatties pointed Jack in the direction of his first job at the Scottish Plant Breeding Station at Pentlandfield, near Edinburgh. Jack was part of the team who developed the successful ‘Pentland’ potato varieties.
His PhD studies into potato eelworm infestation and resistance also allowed him to spend many happy days in the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, a place that remained dear to his heart throughout his life.
The turning point came in 1976 when Jack had become increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the publicly-funded breeding programme at Pentlandfield and decided to return to his native Caithness to establish himself as a private potato breeder, following in the footsteps of famous Scots breeders such as Archibald Findlay, William Paterson and Donald Mackelvie.
Living in his parents’ old manse in Canisbay, he reopened Canisbay Youth Club where many a competitive game of unihoc and table tennis was fought.
The move into private breeding was made possible by the introduction of Plant Variety Rights, giving a royalty income to breeders. Even so, this was a huge risk at a time when plant breeding in the UK was dominated by state-funded institutions. He started to breed his own varieties, surviving in this lean period by growing high grade seed in partnership with local Caithness farmers and VTSC inspecting. He remarked wryly in his book, A Scottish Potato Breeder’s Harvest, that during this time he learnt a lot about the potato business that wasn’t taught at university.
Jack co-founded Caithness Potatoes in collaboration with a group of Perthshire potato merchants and was later joined by London-based entrepreneur, Marcel Guindi. His first variety, Stemster, was an early success but his second variety, Nadine, cemented his global reputation.
A string of successful varieties followed such as Valor, Swift, Winston, Argos, Kestrel, Harmony and Osprey. The Caithness group grew into an international Scottish based seed potato enterprise over the following decades.
• Related: Potato breeder’s honorary degree
In 1990 Jack and Evelyn moved to Clevnagreen, a 13-acre croft overlooking Freswick bay, where he continued his breeding programme. They attended many a daffodil tea and Burns night in the hall. He was proud to show off his beautiful garden at Clevnagreen to a succession of local gardening groups, when he would explain his approach to creating a semi-natural garden which would survive the coastal location and Caithness weather. Jack’s variety Kestrel remains a firm favourite with gardeners.
Jack’s achievements in the potato industry were recognised through a succession of industry awards, including the James Hardie memorial prize for potato research, the Haig Trophy and the World Potato Congress award. He received his MBE in 2004 for his services to the potato industry and, in 2012, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in Glasgow.
Jack began to write his memoirs in 2000, and, with his second wife Anne (Nancy) Houston, supported local projects including the construction of a new church hall for Canisbay church. They shared a love of local history and were keen to preserve Caithness traditions and dialect, until Nancy’s death in 2017. Jack recorded a piece for Wick Voices in 2015.
A memorial service for Jack will be held in Canisbay church on Sunday, July 21 at 3pm. His ashes will be interred privately by his family in Canisbay churchyard, in the Caithness soil from which he sprang.
Catriona Bailey and Gavin Dunnett
https://twitter.com/GroatNews
Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published
Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...