Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 5 NEWS Improved SafeHaven standards for British seed potato exports EIGHT new amendments to the seed potato industry’s assurance scheme came into force last month. The certification scheme, Safe Haven, has recently been reviewed and updated to cover areas such as closer monitoring of water use and crop storage. Administered by Red Tractor, the UK’s largest food standards scheme, Safe Haven protects against any pest or disease that can be imported or introduced by seed. Head of Export Trade Development at AHDB, Patrick Hughes, said: “We welcome these changes as they reinforce the value of the scheme in supporting individual businesses, the long-term health of the British potato industry and protecting the global reputation of British seed potatoes. It is important to regularly review the standards to ensure they are fit for purpose and keep pace with the changing environment we operate in.” Seed and fresh potatoes exported from the UK between July 2019 and June 2020 were worth just under £113 million, with seed potatoes representing a large proportion of this figure. Patrick said: “We work closely with important export destinations for British seed and know that our customers in countries such as Egypt, Israel, and Thailand recognise the standards and the security Safe Haven oers. Safe Haven has always been an extremely important export tool and it will play an increased role after the transition period for exiting the EU ends, safeguarding existing markets and helping us to develop future opportunities with international markets.” The Safe Haven standards are regularly reviewed to ensure they oer practical protection for growers. New salad variety on track to achieve 2 million tubers/ha EXCEPTIONALLY good conditions across England and Scotland enabled a speedy harvest of seed potatoes for leading potato breeder Agrico. Approximately 70-80% of the crop was out of the ground by early October and initial reports indicated quality was good while yields looked to be around the five-year average. Executive director Archie Gibson said: “We’ve been blessed, generally, with very good weather and the seed harvest is well underway. Good progress has been made across the whole of seed growing areas.” Skins were in good condition and potatoes coming out the ground in good order, Archie said. Owing to the pandemic, English seed crops have only received one certification inspection. In response, Agrico supported growers throughout the season, reviewing crop growth and virus pressure, oering advice where appropriate. Sales manager, Alex Moore, said: “We will be checking stocks in stores regularly and our sampling programme means we will have accurate seed counts before delivery.” Early seed potato harvest presents dry rot risk THE Scottish seed potato harvest began a fortnight ahead of normal this year, increasing the threat from dry rot. SRUC consultant Dr Stuart Wale pointed out that while an early harvest is likely to reduce the risk of silver scurf, black dot, gangrene, and skin spot developing in store, the risk of dry rot can be more of a problem on susceptible varieties. “Poor skin set, warm tubers, and store condensation all increase dry rot risk. In seed crops this can be minimised by treating with a fungicide into storage or at grading. Judging the need for treatment should be based on varietal susceptibility to the disease, previous experience of disease on a specific variety and presence of the disease in the seed from which the crop was grown.” Stuart recommended two fungicide options in this situation: Gavel (imazalil) and Storite Excel (thiabendazole) which can be used alone or in mixture. “Bear in mind that Fusarium sulphureum – one pathogen that causes dry rot – silver scurf, and skin spot have all been found to develop resistance to thiabendazole, whereas there has been almost no resistance detected to imazalil.” Certis Technical Manager Laurence Power said that for the past two springs dry rot has been a contributory factor to gappy emergence of ware crops. “For maximum disease reduction in storage, Gavel should be applied as soon as possible after harvest, preferably within 48 hours. If you leave the conversation with your seed supplier until the spring there may not be any treated seed left and there are no options for treatment out of store or at planting,” he said. A full list of varietal susceptibilities to dry rot can be viewed at http://varieties.ahdb.org.Uk Dry rot in seed (within 0.5% rots tolerance) may go unnoticed and cause gappy emergence. ➜ Executive director Archie Gibson said initial indications were good.