The dry, hot weather during summer has caused early sprouting in potato stores – Arable Farming
We've had some decent rain over the last few weeks and the newly-dug pond and ditches are looking nice ...
The mallard population comes and goes and has been replaced by a family of swans – a mother, father and three cygnets that have been on the fen for the summer.
One benefit of the swans has been they have done a great job at clearing up the apple windfalls as we couldn’t cope with the harvest this season despite juicing, making some cider and giving lots away.
The swans quickly realised there were some apples left on the trees and the adults have been pulling on the branches and shaking the apples to the floor for the cygnets to finish. Our apple storage issues however aren’t anywhere near the same problem as potato storage.
The dry, hot weather during summer has caused early sprouting in store, partly due to the reduction in the effectiveness of maleichydrazide where it was applied and also just the weather making the potatoes break dormancy earlier than normal. This, combined with the very mild autumn, has meant ambient stores are really struggling and even fridge stores have been struggling to cope in some places and using huge amounts of very expensive electricity to cure the crop and bring the temperature down quickly to reduce sprouting.
Expensive
This means many stores are having various treatments applied to reduce sprouting and it looks like a long and expensive storage season. There are also some rots in store, which means some stores are being moved quickly and this is affecting price. So, all in all, not a great start.
I’ve never known the potato industry to be in such turmoil, with contracts not being signed and plans being held back. The general consensus is the area will be a significant way down, but how far, who knows.
The sugar beet area conversely is up and with the price at £40 per tonne, there is an opportunity for growers to make some decent money. The crop has continued to bulk late into autumn due to the exceptionally mild autumn and recent rains, and fungicides are showing their benefit in keeping the crop green.
Beet leaf moth is a headache in some areas and yields are being hit where the caterpillars are mining the crown, stopping crops from bulking and putting on sugar, despite the very kind autumn.
Beet moth has never been recorded as a problem in the UK before, being limited to areas of continental Europe in the past.
As with any pest that hits us for the first time, there is no effective control strategy at present in the UK and we don’t know if it will be a problem next year.
With other resident moth species – such as cutworm – or frequent visitors – like silver Y moth – we have control strategies in place.
Cutworm is monitored and when adult moths are recorded there is a model in place to give a control strategy before they become an issue. Cutworm is generally not a problem in irrigated crop or if we have rains in summer, so this may be a clue as to why beet moth has been such a big issue this season, with no rain for several months.
I’ve looked at a few irrigated beet crops and, anecdotally, they seem to be less effected by beet moth, so maybe in a season with more normal rainfall we wouldn’t have any issues.
No-one knows whether or not beet crops will be affected by beet moth next season. All we know is the British Beet Research Organisation will work hard to come up with a strategy next year if possible.
It just leaves me say Happy New Year and let’s hope for a more normal 2023, whatever that is.
Email Us