We might also try and get everything in the ground a little bit earlier and possibly chitting the seed. I believe that we could have got another tonne per acre increasing the plants per metre square slightly. I would look more at plant spacing, just to create more air flow and not having them all bunched up. So yes, just some really basic things that actually when you think about them make a lot of sense. Reducing use further, we decided to only irrigate in the day so that the leaf dries off and leaving the soil as the only moist component. By putting it into beds you reduce the amount of water that you use. This is because you’re creating moist atmosphere that the crop is going to grow in – which is a perfect condition for blight. The critical period for scab is at tuber initiation, though if you’re putting a lot of water on your potato crop to reduce scab you’re increasing the chance of blight. The reason for that was that a bed will retain moisture far better than a ridge will. One of the key things we did was that we grew on a bed rather than a ridge. We knew that it was all about getting the right variety, on the right soil types, at the right time of year for planting and harvesting. And then on top of that: how do you get a healthy plant? Some of that comes from the health of the soils, which are benefiting from high levels of biological and ecological activity. If you produce a healthy plant you’d like to think it can protect itself from the elements. It comes down to what have we done in other crops and how we can transfer that knowledge across. What preventative work did you do to encourage the growth of a healthy crop? But my personal thought was: why should we start a project by tying our arm behind our back? Copper is going to be banned whether you like it or not, so we decided that we’d start with a clean slate. Obviously, there is a lot of talk in the industry about the loss of copper. We quickly cottoned on to the fact that blight is a huge issue, whether that be for organic farmers or not. Why were you so concerned about potato blight? And from a risk and reward point of view, for us the risk of potatoes looked lower than continuing to grow brassicas. Then from a practical viewpoint, we already owned a lot of the kit so it made a lot of sense. The reason was that growing potatoes very much fitted our model, we don’t have a lot of staff and organics is very labour intensive, but potatoes and onions are very mechanized. Once we moved away from brassicas we decided to align ourselves with the other crops that Produce World sold to retail. Off the back of that we had to determine as a business: what are we going to grow instead? The crop grew well, but after three years, and due to the nature of the supply and demand, we decided to try something else. Going back four years ago, in 2014, we started growing brassicas. So, if you like, we supply to retail and wholesale. There are some wholesale markets that we also supply, like Langridge Organics in London. Because of the type of land we’re on, very light sandy soil, and with all the root crops we grow, we need to make sure we have plenty of accessible water.Īnd what are your major routes to market?Īll the veg that we grow is supplied into Produce World and that is all distributed to the major supermarkets. This is to make sure we safeguard our position and the necessary irrigation water. We have been farming with Houghton for many years and we have agreed to take all the vegetable growing land that is available. He managed to spare half-an-hour to talk to me about the trials, tribulations and successes of his first year in the organic potato business.Ĭan you give me a background to Taylor Grown?Īll the land that we farm is rented in, with the majority coming from Houghton Hall. In his most recent endeavour, he has sought to add 30 acres of potatoes to his rotation. When it comes to growing carrots and onions, Joe Rolfe is your man.
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