Potato Review

26 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2020 SUSTAINABILITY while opportunities would present themselves from di erent land sources, methods of carbon extraction etc. “ ere are new ideas coming through. e next generation will have solutions,” he said. “I understand the pessimism around this issue, but I think it is short-sighted to ignore just how innovative human beings can be.” Most growers just want to “get out in the eld” and nd it di cult to justify attending events which could help educate them about more sustainable techniques and other topics, he said. Whilst rmly believing the AHDB could do more for growers, he acknowledged that the organisation had provided a lot of useful information and tools relating to soil health and, while many growers resent the levy paid to AHDB, he said it did in turn prompt a change in mindset. “When you’re paying for something, it makes you more determined to make use of the resources and advice it o ers.” He also believes the scientists themselves need to help put things into practice. “When we talk about innovative farming, we really need those scientists to get more involved. Farmers struggle to run an e ective trial. We change controls because something happens but we’ve got to get on, and we’ve got to make some money at the same time, so it’s important to keep having new trials, keep trying to prove something. For example, I’ve tried doing this myself, sending a drone out where I’m grazing one half of the eld, not grazing the other, then splitting it into four. But I know it’s going to crash and we’ll be sitting there on a wet day in October thinking ‘well what have we actually learned?’ So I really feel there is a need for some kind of extension service.” Simon said scienti c extension services could be found all around the world. For example, in Ireland where there was no ADAS equivalent, such a service was provided as an extension of the university research services. “ ey still have a long tradition of being linked to a university. Scotland to some extent also provides a great deal of extension services. From my experience, England is the poor relation in terms of extension services. We could do with something similar from centres of research – it would help to change that mindset,” he said. While not being averse to an extension service, John believed it needed to be handled carefully. “Sometimes researchers aren’t the best people to talk to growers. I think it’s the role of the agronomist to do that. I also think there are scientists who will do some research and say it doesn’t work, when it actually might do,” he said. Wilson agreed. “ ere is a dislocate between the academics and the practical application of what they are researching. Sometimes they waste time and resources looking at things that, if they had a Simon Fox, or a Richard Shropshire, or a Mike Harrington, in there in some advisory capacity, they would not waste that time and energy and resource looking in that direction when we can tell them it’s pointless from the beginning. Directed research, what you can get funding for, a lot of it is coming from the big pesticide companies.” He said it was wrong that large pro table organisations were able to compete for grant funding, such as Horizon 2020 and Innovate UK, for their R&D work. Changing perceptions Sarah pointed out that often agritech and agrifood companies also thought they knew what growers required, without properly working alongside them. “Often things are pushed onto farmers, that they don’t really want, and it can give innovation a bad name, because then they are shut o to other innovation and it all comes back to trust again because in the past a random person who didn’t know enough about real farming tried to sell them an ine ective drone kit or similar that just didn’t work.” At the end of the day, people needed to be able to trust their own ndings, John pointed out. “It all comes down to how we get past people protecting their own IP to be able to trust their research ndings and claims – that’s the key challenge,” he said. Simon agreed: “It is a case of maintaining momentum and gathering people to it.” Mike said once growers were on board with a more sustainable program, things would become easier to maintain and a wholly di erent approach towards e ciency would be revealed. “Over time you build up knowledge. It may be that soil no longer has to be tested so often in future, if it is used di erently – for example every three to ve years. I think we can grow more food with less so to speak, but it takes a di erent style of farming to achieve that.”