News on Potato Cultivation from United Kingdom

As of July 2021, Agricultural Equipment supplier Standen Engineering will begin supplying AVR self-propelled potato harvesters and in-store equipment to the whole of the United Kingdom.

With tuber bulking being such a critical, yet energy sapping period in potato crop development, now is the time to consider nutrition applications to support crop health and maintain tuber growth.

Scotty Brand (a brand of Albert Bartlett Ltd) has welcomed the start of its potato and Scottish strawberry season in Ayrshire. The company has great sales hopes after the number of Scots buying local vegetables has increased.

British carbon capture and utilization company CCm Technologies has been awarded funding from Innovate UK to develop new modular Carbon Capture and Sequestration units.

Crop4Sight’s online and mobile digital toolkit is designed to help growers maximise saleable potato yields and was launched as a commercial service in 2020. Crop4Sight now adds a potato irrigation scheduling tool.

A Lincolnshire farmer believes many in the industry are ignoring valuable research into how best to protect crops from extreme weather conditions and are losing millions of pounds as a result.

AHDB has announced it is winding down significant activities on behalf of the horticulture and potatoes sectors. While awaiting a decision on the future by Ministers in England, Scotland and Wales, AHDB wants to reassure levy payers their views have been heard.

Scotts Precision Manufacturing has extended its distribution network with the appointment of a new sales and service agent to cover Scotland.

While an official opening might not be possible, the team at GRIMME UK’s new £3m depot have still found a way to celebrate - supplying the 2000th GRIMME de-stoner to one of the country’s leading vegetable growers.

Tim, currently Chief Operating Officer of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), will take up his position at the Stoneleigh-based levy board on 31 August 2021, replacing Jane King. During the intervening period, the interim AHDB CEO will be Ken Boyns, AHDB Chief Finance, and Operations Officer.

A ballot to decide the future of the AHDB Potato levy has concluded and the voting report has been passed to Ministers for a decision on what happens next.

Planting a Green Headland on uncropped areas around potato and field vegetable crops can capture nutrients worth £200/ha over the growing season.

To ensure the research AHDB funds has the biggest impact and benefit for the potato industry, they work to connect growers with researchers and scientists with initiatives like their Strategic Spot Farms.

The GB potato industry accounts for over 117.46Kha of planted area this year, and is represented by 1,611 growers in 2020. Growers have faced difficult seasons of late.

Pepsico UK has joined forces with British clean-tech firm CCm Technologies to reduce their carbon footprint by turning their potato waste into fertiliser.

Sowing wildflowers into potato crops could reduce aphid-carried viruses and offer an alternative to declining access to insecticides for growers.

One of the UK’s leading manufacturers of vegetable harvesting equipment has launched an innovative conversion kit that allows owners of the GRIMME GT 170 trailed harvester to convert to a windrower.

Haith Group has seen a resurgence of interest in its innovative bag filling machine after a video posted on social media was viewed more than one million times.