Regenerative farming potatoes?

[Sid]

He farms the fen across from us his farming system is more degenerative than regenerative in my opinion.

As long as a little bit is he can says he's regen.

 

[BrianV]

£9.8m fund but if you want to access a grant you have to spend a minimum of £1m, who do you think that's aimed at, its fecking disgusting.

Funding competitionFarming Innovation Programme Small R&D Partnership Projects Rnd 3​

Project size​

Your project’s total costs must be between £1 million and £3 million.
3e005199-2540-434a-b4d7-a2b6639f46ad

 

[som farmer]

regen is about looking after your soil, as one of its base principles.

can't really think of another crop that beats the shite out of soil structure.

and how the hell do they grow spuds without worm holes, unless using sprays.

the organic farmers will disagree, l know.

 

[Hill Ground]

Seriously now can someone explain to me what the fudge regenerative spuds are and how it is done in practice or it genuinely as pants and make-believe as it sounds?

I suppose Dyson is a regen acolyte what with all that methane he is burning to feed to his crops as CO2.

I had heard of people putting compost into windrows to form the beds,grow the spuds,lift the spuds,spread the compost out.

Not sure if it's actually been done large scale but would be no-till-ish

 

[Sid]

can't really think of another crop that beats the shite out of soil structure

Swedes
Maize
Carrots

 

[som farmer]

Swedes
Maize
Carrots

could put them in the same stew pot, but having had spuds grown here, they are the worst of the worst.
Took several years to get the soil anywhere near back to normal.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Don‘t think I didn’t see what you did there

Seems to be a projection that regenerative must be a way of doing, but this projection is being made by people who don't have any way of changing how they're being in life .

Everyone's being so mean and bitter and cynical and resigned - about regenerative

It's hilarious, ironic and so unattractive.

I have so many questions, none about the potatoes

 

[kiwi pom]

To be truly regenerative the prices paid need to better to encourage the next generation into farming and to support the wider farming community.
So Mc Cains are you paying extra for these potatoes or forcing more rules onto your suppliers for the same money?

When it was rolled out down here there were some worried faces, but it turned out many of the things, they were asking for were already done.
There's already lots of hoops to jump through because a lot of the product is exported, and each market has different rules.
As for money, contracts are negotiated with the growers and not signed until they feel there's money in it. Perhaps different in the UK?
I'm told when extra tonnes come up there's a decent amount of interest to take them.
Not much alternative to farming down here though, unless you want to plant trees.

 

[Henarar]

and how the hell do they grow spuds without worm holes, unless using sprays.

we had some tonight, no spray and no worm holes, been growing them in the same patch for 20 years and more, good to, no idea if they are regenerative or not as I don't know what that means, not sure I care either.

 

[Sid]

could put them in the same stew pot, but having had spuds grown here, they are the worst of the worst.
Took several years to get the soil anywhere near back to normal.

That's quite narrow minded.

 

[kiwi pom]

we had some tonight, no spray and no worm holes, been growing them in the same patch for 20 years and more, good to, no idea if they are regenerative or not as I don't know what that means, not sure I care either.

I think it's just their way of trying to show they are thinking about the impact of growing the crop and trying to use the best method they can while still being profitable.
McCain are a veg processor, they can't change to something else, grow different crops or sign up to some scheme just because the government is getting arsey with conventional farming. They're just trying to stay in business.
Long rotations with a wide range of different crops being grown, including grass and livestock, making sure cover crops are used where necessary (no handouts for that) and being careful with chemical inputs while still producing high yields to reduce the area needed for the tonnes, seems to be the gist of it down here.

 

[som farmer]

That's quite narrow minded.

but that was the result.

but regen as a system, is ridiculed by many, as @kiwi pom pointed out, a lot of it is already practiced as normal.

A lot of it is just good farming, sensibly done, and you get results quite quickly.

modern farming is basically post ww2, chemical aids were developed then, and after, a lot of sprays over that time, have been banned, correctly so ! Fert is in the firing line now.

But l think, the 'worst' bits of todays ag, are the loss of a proper rotation, and the weight of modern machinery, its hugely damaging to soil structure, especially annual ploughing.

Such is modern farming, some will carry on, as always, some will be organic, regen is somewhere between the two, its a matter of personal choice, but for how long ? It seems to be the politicians best new idea.

 

[Lowland1]

regen is about looking after your soil, as one of its base principles.

can't really think of another crop that beats the shite out of soil structure.

and how the hell do they grow spuds without worm holes, unless using sprays.

the organic farmers will disagree, l know.

Potatoes in themselves are a good rotation crop in any system. The problem comes with destoning/declodding, heavy irrigation, running big prayers through the wet crop and then either turning it too dust when harvesting or as more often is case turned into a battlefield as big harvester and trailers are dragged through the mud. For us they work well keeping the machinery in set wheelings mean we can strip till cabbage straight into a potato bed.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Potatoes in themselves are a good rotation crop in any system. The problem comes with destoning/declodding, heavy irrigation, running big prayers through the wet crop and then either turning it too dust when harvesting or as more often is case turned into a battlefield as big harvester and trailers are dragged through the mud. For us they work well keeping the machinery in set wheelings mean we can strip till cabbage straight into a potato bed.

That sounds sensible.
I can never understand why, having gone to all of the cost and hassle of creating a stone free bed that it is not reused for a following crop, especially with modern GPS and CTF techniques.

 

[Sid]

but that was the result.

but regen as a system, is ridiculed by many, as @kiwi pom pointed out, a lot of it is already practiced as normal.

A lot of it is just good farming, sensibly done, and you get results quite quickly.

modern farming is basically post ww2, chemical aids were developed then, and after, a lot of sprays over that time, have been banned, correctly so ! Fert is in the firing line now.

But l think, the 'worst' bits of todays ag, are the loss of a proper rotation, and the weight of modern machinery, its hugely damaging to soil structure, especially annual ploughing.

Such is modern farming, some will carry on, as always, some will be organic, regen is somewhere between the two, its a matter of personal choice, but for how long ? It seems to be the politicians best new idea.

Seen on SM a plethora of farmers planting forage and cover crops with grant aided 40k drills and 200hp tractor when a electro broadcaster on a quad bike and a ring roll

 

[Sid]

Potatoes in themselves are a good rotation crop in any system. The problem comes with destoning/declodding, heavy irrigation, running big prayers through the wet crop and then either turning it too dust when harvesting or as more often is case turned into a battlefield as big harvester and trailers are dragged through the mud. For us they work well keeping the machinery in set wheelings mean we can strip till cabbage straight into a potato bed.

How often are they sprayed?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Blight finally hit massively this week

 

[som farmer]

Seen on SM a plethora of farmers planting forage and cover crops with grant aided 40k drills and 200hp tractor when a electro broadcaster on a quad bike and a ring roll

farmers like shiny new paint.

years ago, biggest tractor was 70hp, today 140hp, here, its not only doubled the power. its doubled the size, and probably nearly the weight.

and that's a big problem, you cannot keep pounding the soil, without doing some damage.

going on from those spuds/destoning etc, it really fecked the ground up, and brought up 10 yrs worth of dock seed, never again.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

farmers like shiny new paint.

years ago, biggest tractor was 70hp, today 140hp, here, its not only doubled the power. its doubled the size, and probably nearly the weight.

and that's a big problem, you cannot keep pounding the soil, without doing some damage.

going on from those spuds/destoning etc, it really fecked the ground up, and brought up 10 yrs worth of dock seed, never again.

My man put a pre em on the spud ground ,took all the docks out

 

[som farmer]

My man put a pre em on the spud ground ,took all the docks out

ours damn sure didn't.

our soil is pretty light stuff, free draining, after those spuds, it just went to mush, as it rained, one field, we still have to run through with the subsoiler regularly, the sandy patches just set like concrete, and revert to amg !