Regenerative farming potatoes?

[Derrick Hughes]

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 !

Made a big mistake with mine this year ,tried to put it straight back to a Herbal Ley
I normally put Italian Ryegrass in for a few years first

 

[Lowland1]

How often are they sprayed?

About 3 times (blight and insecticide) in the crop we are harvesting at present but it could be more. This time every time I wanted to spray we got rained off.

 

[Sid]

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

What spray took out those dock seed? What a gane changer!, Never known a spray to make seeds inert before.

Made a big mistake with mine this year ,tried to put it straight back to a Herbal Ley
I normally put Italian Ryegrass in for a few years first

That's a considerable cost after spuds

 

[betweenthelines]

Your factually incorrect as ever
View attachment 1128241

Legislation

The European Commission has adopted several regulations on the production, distribution and marketing of organic goods.

agriculture.ec.europa.eu

Doubt if 1% of shoppers know the legal definition of organic. To the public it's just a word like many others that they think they understand.

Used to live next to a farm shop that had a sign "All produce is home grown" They sold new potatoes, tomatoes, even melons all year round, off a 5 acre smallholding with no glasshouses

 

[Sid]

Doubt if 1% of shoppers know the legal definition of organic. To the public it's just a word like many others that they think they understand

That's based on, no data or research at all.

Used to live next to a farm shop that had a sign "All produce is home grown" They sold new potatoes, tomatoes, even melons all year round, off a 5 acre smallholding with no glasshouses

Exactly why organically produced has legally defined standards and labels.

 

[som farmer]

That's based on, no data or research at all.


Exactly why organically produced has legally defined standards and labels.

its fine for those that read them
how many do, though ?

 

[Sid]

its fine for those that read them
how many do, though ?

Don't have to, gives them the confidence in their purchasing decisions.

Same as any brand.

 

[GalaFarmer85]

Friend of mine been head hunted to "work with" Mccain growers he has been on a lot of courses & seems happy.

What environmental or “regen” actions are they baking into 2024-30 contracts and are McCains paying a sufficient premium for delivery of “regen” which to be fair are actually conservation ag actions? Does land have to be regen in non potato years? So many questions

 

[icanshootwell]

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 will try and explain it.
1 No de-stoning on sandy soils.
2 No more than 10 tractors in a field at one time.
3 You must stop lifting in the rain
4 If you lift in the rain you must bring the soil back, this is stealing and the police may prosecute.

 

[Spud]

What environmental or “regen” actions are they baking into 2024-30 contracts and are McCains paying a sufficient premium for delivery of “regen” which to be fair are actually conservation ag actions? Does land have to be regen in non potato years? So many questions

They're not daft enough to be too dictatorial, or they wouldn't have any spuds, but there is some general guidance and principles.

Over winter cover crops

OM addition if possible - chopped straw, digestate, muck, compost etc

Minimize cultivation intensity - this doesn't necessarily mean no ploughing, or bedtilling, but keep the STIR rating as low as possible

Keep EiQ as low as possible and engage in ipm. This might mean pollinator mix sown on areas not planted with potatoes to enhance aphid predator habitat, oil radish alongside variety tweaks to minimize nematicide use, less synthetic fertilizer etc

Water efficiency via inverter driven pumps and scheduling systems, booms or trickle instead of rain guns, prioritizing night time irrigation to reduce evaporation

Increased store insulation and inverter driven fans. Bulk whole crop loading.

Each farm and situation is different, and to be successful this initiative needs to be flexible to stand a chance of succeeding.

From my point of view, so far so good.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

They're not daft enough to be too dictatorial, or they wouldn't have any spuds, but there is some general guidance and principles.

Over winter cover crops

OM addition if possible - chopped straw, digestate, muck, compost etc

Minimize cultivation intensity - this doesn't necessarily mean no ploughing, or bedtilling, but keep the STIR rating as low as possible

Keep EiQ as low as possible and engage in ipm. This might mean pollinator mix sown on areas not planted with potatoes to enhance aphid predator habitat, oil radish alongside variety tweaks to minimize nematicide use, less synthetic fertilizer etc

Water efficiency via inverter driven pumps and scheduling systems, booms or trickle instead of rain guns, prioritizing night time irrigation to reduce evaporation

Increased store insulation and inverter driven fans. Bulk whole crop loading.

Each farm and situation is different, and to be successful this initiative needs to be flexible to stand a chance of succeeding.

From my point of view, so far so good.

That’s great, and I daresay potatoes can’t be grown that much better at scale, but…

To my mind, growing spuds still isn’t a ‘good’ activity for the ground/general environment. When it’s presented, particularly on national mainstream prime time media as being this lovely, wonderful ‘green’ thing, it’s just symptomatic of the ‘green rush’; everyone feels the need to rush to capitalise on their green credentials.

Probably every single one of us feels like they are doing things a bit better than they were done a decade or two ago.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

What spray took out those dock seed? What a gane changer!, Never known a spray to make seeds inert before.


That's a considerable cost after spuds

Will check with Adas later
I was told yesterday that it costs them £15 million, (the spray company) to get a spray from testing to being used by farmers

 

[kiwi pom]

That’s great, and I daresay potatoes can’t be grown that much better at scale, but…

To my mind, growing spuds still isn’t a ‘good’ activity for the ground/general environment. When it’s presented, particularly on national mainstream prime time media as being this lovely, wonderful ‘green’ thing, it’s just symptomatic of the ‘green rush’; everyone feels the need to rush to capitalise on their green credentials.

Probably every single one of us feels like they are doing things a bit better than they were done a decade or two ago.

Can’t see anything wrong with growing spuds on the right ground using the right practices. A lot of people would go hungry without them. Far better than subsidised AD feed stock, horse hay or planting flowers just because the government gives a handout. Minimal damage to soils if done right and a population fed.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Can’t see anything wrong with growing spuds on the right ground using the right practices. A lot of people would go hungry without them. Far better than subsidised AD feed stock, horse hay or planting flowers just because the government gives a handout. Minimal damage to soils if done right and a population fed.

Yep- horses for courses and all that, and as you say the populace needs to be fed.

But, if you were to rank agricultural land uses in a list by how much damage/potential damage they do to the ground then growing spuds is going to be well down the list.

If they’re advertised with a ‘Good For The Environment’ greenwash tagline, that’s a bit like certain celebrities advertising the fact they are ‘A Lot Less Rapey These Days’…

 

[farmerm]

Will check with Adas later
I was told yesterday that it costs them £15 million, (the spray company) to get a spray from testing to being used by farmers

Probably for an new active... but an extension of use for a product already approved is peanuts in comparison...

 

[kiwi pom]

Yep- horses for courses and all that, and as you say the populace needs to be fed.

But, if you were to rank agricultural land uses in a list by how much damage/potential damage they do to the ground then growing spuds is going to be well down the list.

If they’re advertised with a ‘Good For The Environment’ greenwash tagline, that’s a bit like certain celebrities advertising the fact they are ‘A Lot Less Rapey These Days’…

Grow them in the wrong climate on the wrong soils you'll do some damage but in the right place on a 6+ year diverse rotation I think they're fine.
Certainly a good use of land in my opinion.