FROM THE FORUM

POTATO FORUM

Dealing with delayed decisions; getting to grips with virus

Alex Godfrey

Potato Forum chairman

Fortunately, despite a couple of spells of heavy rain, the weather was fairly kind to us this autumn. We’re fi nishing in good time as I write this in late October, leaving fi elds in reasonable condition and, perhaps most importantly, we’ve managed to grade into store with about half the usual number of staff . That’s just as well, because had we needed more, they wouldn’t have been there.

Staff shortages are widespread across many parts of the economy of course, but seasonal work is a peculiar case. In recent years the work has primarily been carried out by people from Central Europe, but whether because of Brexit, Covid or improved opportunities at home, there are far fewer of them here this year.

The government’s standard response is that industries should pay more, improve conditions and automate. But those trite responses don’t cut it for us: nobody wants a seasonal job if they could get a permanent one, no matter how good the conditions or how well paid it is.

We have all automated signifi cantly and there is further we can go – but it’s a process not an event. And it’s a process government hasn’t always been very keen on. For years, until quite recently, grant contributions largely depended on how many jobs were going to be created. It’s a case of ‘do what I say, not what I said’.

Labour is an issue that has hit parts of horticulture earlier than potatoes. The NFU, and, in particular, the sector board and team, have been working on it for years, but getting government to take it seriously has been, and remains, an uphill struggle. We’ve been kept in a state of perpetual suspense, unable to know until after a crop is planted whether we will be able to harvest it.

It’s a sorry state of aff airs when our biggest business uncertainty is not weather, what our competitors are doing or consumer demand, but when a decision will be made in Whitehall – and what it will be.

The list of delayed and hard to understand decisions is long and growing. To labour, add the future of what was the AHDB levy, many, many crop protection products – DMN being the most topical – how potatoes can fi t into the ELM scheme, how a successor to POs will work and more besides.

In my view, the government’s report card reads ‘must do better’. Perhaps it’s they who should be automated?

Andy Alexander Andy Alexander

Agronomist, farmer and forum member Agronomist, farmer and forum member

Spiralling fuel and fertiliser costs have made this another challenging year, but one area where the pressures seem to have eased somewhat is virus.

You don’t need a particularly long memory to recall the impact on the 2019 ware crop, mainly stemming from high levels in the seed. An NFU survey then found 70% of ware growers reporting reduced yields and damaged tubers, costing them, on average, £50,000 each. Levels were high last year too, but from what I’ve seen this year, there has been a lot less of it around.

This is partly down to the growing conditions last year, which left seed growers under less attack by the aphid vectors. I think there’s more to it than that, however: 2019 was a wake-up call and everyone has focused harder on virus management. Seed growers, I believe, have paid greater attention to aphid control than perhaps some had in the past – despite the ever-dwindling toolkit of insecticides.

I also feel the inspection regime has improved; and we are seeing more seed growers having their tubers tested for virus before sale.

Potato viruses will still be with us, though, especially if we see the more favourable conditions for aphids that climate change modelling is pointing to. So, what else do we need to consider to prevent another 2019?

One aspect is varietal resistance. We still don’t know enough about that and it needs research, whatever the fi nal decision on levy funding. From what I’ve seen, virus impacts appear to diff er with variety – and perhaps these diff erences show up more clearly when overall virus pressure isn’t too high? Another is location for seed production. Again, the jury is still out but there seems to be some evidence that aphid populations are higher the closer you are to a town or village. What is well-known is the impact of late-season infestations as aphids migrate into potato fi elds from other hosts. So it’s important seed growers resist the temptation to carry on late into the season, and instead stop growth as soon as the tubers reach commercial size. Finish early and manage aphid monitoring and insecticide use as well as possible.

With so many of the pressures we face being outside of our control, we must focus on what we can.