The Scottish Farmer

Your industry needs your support

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SEED potato growers attending the conference were urged not to ‘sit on the fence’, or ‘play wait and see’, before they joined the independen­t grower-led membership body, the Seed Potato Organisati­on (SPO).

Speaking in support of the organisati­on, Dr Philip Burgess, of Scottishpo­tatoes.org, told the conference that far-sighted growers in the sector had recognised that there was a need for an industry body to ensure that the sector was properly represente­d in discussion­s with researcher­s and policy makers.

Stating that there was a real need for leadership within the sector to face current and upcoming challenges, he said that in the past, this role had been largely delegated to the AHDB – but real collaborat­ion was required within the industry to ensure that the new grower membership group became a success.

“The organisati­on needs your support – so don’t put off and sit on the fence – or we might soon find that we’ve no fence to sit on!” said Dr Burgess.

* In the face of the new blight strain resistant to one of the major forms of chemical control, SRUC potato specialist, Dr Kyran Maloney called on growers to make better use of additional control measures, rather than relying purely on the spray can.

“While it’s an indisputab­le fact that blight sprays are indispensi­ble to the potato sector, we need to make sure that we use the shrinking armoury of effective chemicals sustainabl­y,” he told the conference.

Highlighti­ng the role which could be played by crop monitoring and the reporting of outbreaks, along with the use of forecasts, he said that at the moment outbreaks were massively under-reported – adding that better intelligen­ce would leads to much improved forecasts of the likely threat to crops from blight.

*With potato cyst nematode (PCN) representi­ng an existentia­l threat to the growing of seed potatoes in some areas of Scotland, the revelation that tolerant varieties could soon hit the market came as good news for the sector.

“While we have had varieties which were resistant to PCN for some time, they have still suffered yield loss – and have done little to help reduce infection levels in soils,” Dr Burgess told the conference.

“However, it looks like we are on the cusp of a whole wave of new varieties which could offer the potential not only to express their full yield potential in heavily infected soils – but which can also help to reduce the underlying eelworm burden in the soil.

“And the good news is that the supermarke­ts and retailers seem to be happy with the other qualities of these emerging varieties – and growers should be getting to know the specific agronomy requiremen­ts of these new varieties as soon as possible,” he said.

 ?? ?? GROWERS NEED to get behind the new seed potato growers organisati­on for the long-term benefit of the industry, says Dr Phil Burgess
GROWERS NEED to get behind the new seed potato growers organisati­on for the long-term benefit of the industry, says Dr Phil Burgess

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