R&D in potatoes is essential if we are to protect our crops from ever-changing challenges – Arable Farming – Darryl Shailes

There is a lot of bird activity and a new visitor to the garden is a little egret, another to add to the species list. We’ve also seen bumblebees and wasps buzzing around, which is pretty unusual for March. However, we shouldn’t be too surprised at how early the insect life is becoming active as we’ve had such a mild winter.

This is reflected in the fact that the Rothamsted model has been triggered and allowed the Cruiser SB (thiamethoxam) emergency approval (EA) to be granted and treated seed has arrived on-farm and will be drilled in around 75% of UK sugar beet fields.

The aphid migration is expected to start around mid-April, much earlier than in 2021 but not quite as early as in 2020, with 68.9% of the crop predicted to be infected if left untreated.

With normal chemical approvals most of the label is guidance only as long as the crucia elements such as crop, dose, harvest interval, health and safety and environmental protection are adhered to. There are some other anomalies and each label is different, but the majority is for guidance.

However, with an EA much like an extension of authorisation for minor use, everything is statutory and we must ensure as an industry that we recognise this and adhere to all the information on the EA. This includes maximum seed rate, use of follow up foliar treatments, following crops including cover crops and many more on the EA and in the comprehensive stewardship guidelines.

Potato planting is well underway in many areas and the earliest hand-planted crops in Cornwall have just received their first blight spray.

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of potato conferences and we saw the most recent report from the AHDB Fight Against Blight programme. As it stands at present, this will be the last time we will see this data, certainly in its present form. The data generated by the Fight Against Blight programme has been excellent and given the industry some invaluable information to base its blight management strategies on.

The constant change in the phytophthora infestans clones across the UK and the EU mean the industry needs the information if we are to manage the threat that this disease brings to our potato crop. It was a change to phytophthora clones that bought about the great Irish potato famine when the traditional variety Irish Lumper succumbed in-store to a new clone thought to have been brought over from the Americas on seed potatoes.

We saw something along those lines in 2019 when EU 37 A2 was discovered to be resistant to fluazinam causing problems in many stores. Last season we saw the dominance of EU 36 2 in East Anglia with the first finding of EU 42 A2 in Scotland.

With all the issues around the world at present it is essential for our industry to have excellent research to help manage our food supplies.

We are very lucky to have the British Beet Research Organisation and we see the result of its work in the EA for Cruiser SB, its ongoing R&D and in the weekly newsletters that come out in season. Without AHDB Potatoes we could potentially be in a bit of an R&D vacuum.

Somehow all the industry must come together to ensure this doesn’t happen and that essential potato R&D we need, such as the Fight Against Blight, is continued in the UK if we are to protect our crops from the ever-changing challenges we face.