Potatoes
Treating potato stores with ethylene
With CIPC no longer available for treating stored potatoes, the most cost-effective option to growers is ethylene, which aims to keep potatoes dormant and control sprouting. Here, two farmers who use it share their views on the Restrain system. According to Oliver Bright (right), of JR, EM & AR Bright Montford Farm in Shrewsbury, Restrain’s ethylene system has been an effective alternative to CIPC. Mr Bright explains: “We have a 2,500t potato store containing the variety Maris Piper. The store has refrigeration, humidifier and monitors CO2,, plus has underfloor lateral ventilation. “Two years ago, we started to consider alternatvies to CIPC for our stored potato crop, and with the help of McCain, we decided Restrain would be our best option in order to go down the route of ethylene.” According to Mr Bright, the benefits of using Restrain are the effectiveness of the product, the ease of use and that the costs are relatively low. “Our store management system is remote, using a crop management system on our iPads and phones. However, we find it really important to come to the store and check things over, just to make sure all is running smoothly and the ethylene is doing its job, as well as monitoring the amount of ethylene that’s being used by the machine. “With the humidification, we try to run at 98 per cent to stop any dehydration of the potatoes. The current crop was put in storage in September, and come May it was still looking excellent and any sprouts which had formed were really brittle.
The Restrain system allows for easy monitoring so that any required adjustments can be made quickly and easily.
For Mr Bright, the quality of the crop is especially important, so he was extremely pleased to discover over the last few months that the sprouting is minimal, the dehydration level is really low, and the frying quality is fantastic, he reckons. “We have a lot of correspondence with Restrain, particularly with John, and he comes to visit generally twice a month. “We found the online training to be really helpful. It gave us a bit of background into what the machine is capable of, how to organise and where to put it – which we found was especially important. “We definitely would recommend Restrain to other growers – not just because of its effectiveness, but also for the support and back-up we get from the Restrain team.”
Effective in boxed stores too Sam Tugwell (right) is assistant farm manager of RJ & AE Godfrey, based at Dawesmere Farms, in Holbeach. Currently, the company is using Restrain as results have indicated it’s a simple and costeffective method of sprout suppression. Godfrey’s Red House is a 1,500-acre farm that is part of a larger farming enterprise in Lincolnshire. It currently grows a range of combinable and root crops with a 10-year rotation.
Mr Bright has found the Restrain system to be effective in a bulk potato store.
The company has a capacity of 5,500t of cold boxed storage, where it stores general white potatoes and Maris Piper, at a temperature of 2.5ºC. All of the potatoes stored at the farm are aimed at the pre-packing market. The farm uses Restrain in all its potato stores. According to Mr Tugwell: “Restrain has the benefits of having no harvest interval and no residue left on the crop, plus is cost-effective.” The stores are checked on a daily basis, and Mr Tugwell reckons the Restrain unit helps with this due to the digital read-out it provides on temperature, CO2 and level of ethylene in-store. He found the system very easy to set up and use. “The machine is set up at the beginning of the season as per the recommendation of Restrain’s advisors. All you have to do after that is add fuel as required, and monitor the stores as you usually would,” Mr Tugwell comments. “We found the stores have seen no sprout growth in any way, shape or form, and we’re very happy with the product. We’ve found Restrain to be very supportive, and Jonathan has visited us periodically throughout the storage season. Any issues we have had with any of the equipment was resolved immediately, and it’s given us the confidence to use the product in the future. To anyone who’s currently storing potatoes, I would recommend the Restrain system as it’s simple to use and very effective.” FG
Sprout control has also been excellent in the boxed stores, Mr Tugwell says.
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