Cheshire potato grower puts soil and crop nutrition first – Farmers Guardian
One North West potato grower is using digital mapping and cover cropping to drive productivity, while minimising the crop's impact on soils and the wider rotation ...
Growing around 500 hectares of potatoes on mostly rented land every year, Stuart Banks knows how important it is to maximise output, but do so in a way that is not to the detriment of soil health.
W.T. Banks and Co (Farming) produces around 24,000 tonnes of potatoes annually, mostly on land rented from a range of farmers across the Cheshire area.
Mr Banks says: “At the end of the day, we are in it to make money.
“We want to produce the best crop we possibly can, in terms of both quality and yield.
“If we are going to grow a crop, it will be to the best of our ability, but we need to do it in a way that is financially and environmentally sustainable long-term. Land is the most important consideration for our business, especially as there is no more of it being made, and so much is being lost to other uses.
“If we do not look after it in the way we are, farmers are not going to want to rent it to us again in the future.”
Working with his Hutchinsons agronomist Andrew Roberts, Mr Banks is making a concerted effort to protect and enhance soil health across the farmed area, and tailor crop nutrition more precisely to what is needed.
With that in mind, two years ago the business started digitally mapping some land using TerraMap high definition soil analysis. The standard service measures 10 criteria, including phosphate, potash, magnesium, pH, soil texture, sand/silt/clay fraction, and elevation. Data was uploaded to the Omnia digital platform and used to generate variable application plans for seedbed phosphate and potash fertiliser.
Results were encouraging that season, so more land was mapped in 2022.
Now the whole 500ha has been mapped, with variable rate fertiliser applications used across the board, as well as placement phosphate fertiliser Primary-P.
This marks quite a change from the previous approach, which typically involved a flat rate application of 14-4-33 compound onto ploughed land, worked in ahead of planting, followed by a top-dressing of compound nitrogen and sulphur granules at tuber initiation.
“It was an approach that had been used for years, but we knew there was room to improve,” says Mr Roberts.
“Invariably, when you are applying a flat rate across the board, some areas will be getting more than is needed, while others are not getting enough.
“Now, we are applying exactly what the crop needs right across every field.”
This is key to maximising output as efficiently as possible, adds Mr Banks.
“My aim is for each potato to have the perfect growing conditions, with all nutrients readily available to it, not be short of anything, and not overdosing any.
“That gets you more uniformity in the crop with regard to size, which is particularly important for us as we grow a lot of crisping potatoes.
“There is probably not much of a fertiliser saving from what we are doing; the point is we are putting it exactly where it is needed in the field.”
He has been particularly impressed with the results from using placement P fertiliser at planting.
Provision of targeted P in the rooting zone is said to ensure sufficient nutrients are available to support rapid root growth during early establishment, thereby improving subsequent scavenging ability for nutrients and water throughout the season.
Mr Banks says the difference it made to crops was clearly visible in an inadvertent ‘trial’ this year, caused by a blockage in one of the planter’s fertiliser pipes, which resulted in a small area of Lady Rosetta not receiving the placement P fertiliser.
The location of the affected area was GPS marked and test digs this harvest found an average 2kg difference in tuber weight between the treated and untreated areas over three separate two-metre digs.
“It has made a huge difference for us,” says Mr Banks.
“We were getting 18-19 tubers per plant in the treated area, which was 15 per cent more than where Primary-P did not get applied. In some cases it was 30 per cent more.”
There was also a difference in tuber size, with more marketable sized tubers where the placement P fertiliser was used.
The Omnia platform has been pivotal in allowing detailed analysis of soil and crop management information, and for preparing variable rate application plans that can be easily transferred to the farm’s equipment.
There has been a logistical benefit too, as Mr Banks can now easily use the fertiliser plans to show exactly how much fertiliser is required on individual blocks of land, ensuring the right amount can be purchased and transported to where it is needed ahead of application.
With one block some 50 miles from the main base, such information makes all the difference to efficiency.
Another step to improve the health, structure, fertility and resilience of soils has been the move to growing overwinter cover crops on land going into potatoes, instead of leaving bare cereal stubbles.
Last season, a MaxiCover mix was grown across the whole farmed area, but this autumn Mr Banks has switched to the brassica-free MaxiVeg cover. This has been designed specifically for use where brassicas are regularly grown as a cash crop and growers want to minimise any risk of soil-borne pathogens such as clubroot.
MaxiVeg contains linseed, buck-wheat, phacelia, hairy vetch, and crimson clover.
Cover is sown directly into cereal stubble after harvest and left over-winter before spraying off with glyphosate as soon as conditions allow in early spring. Land is then ploughed, cultivated, destoned and ridged to pre-pare for planting.
“Preparing potato ground in this way inevitably disturbs the natural soil structure, but by growing cover crops, and all the benefits they bring, we are mitigating at least some of that structural impact, as well as retaining nutrients over the winter and returning valuable organic matter,” says Mr Roberts.
With weather patterns becoming more extreme, Mr Banks also thinks cover crops can improve the resilience of soils.
He has already noticed it can be slightly easier to travel on land early in the spring, as growing cover helps manage soil moisture, while roots stabilise the surface.
Looking ahead to next season, MaxiVeg cover has been sown this autumn into most ground destined for potatoes, and Mr Banks will continue to target fertiliser applications to crop requirements, driving uniformity, quality and marketable yield. Mr Roberts is also considering trying a small area of variable seed rates at planting, varying rate according to soil type analysis.
“Certain soil types will hold moisture better, so should be able to support higher tuber numbers than others.
“It is something we might look at next spring.”
Omnia will also be used to analyse costings across the potato area in more detail, and Mr Banks will use the platform to provide financial and physical benchmarking information to McCain as he becomes one of their benchmark farmers next season.
“The aim is to be able to look at a block of land and judge whether it can make us money or not.
“If it cannot, we have to question whether to take it on,” he says.
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