Potato Review

NEWS Science ction and reality roles AUTHOR Gerard Heidgerken has given potatoes a major role in his tongue-in-cheek debut book, Godsquatter, but says his research revealed some historical spud history that was even more bizarre. In his book, potatoes have secretly rebuilt society in their own image, with spuds now firmly in control of all industry, government and entertainment, which culminates in a great potato war. “I thought this sounded wonderfully absurd but then I learned there have already been several real potato wars throughout history. There was the Potato War of Bavarian Succession of 1778, and the Milford Potato War in 1857. Also the Great Maine Potato War in 1976, which shouldn’t be confused with the USS O’Bannon’s Maine Potato Incident of 1943. And don’t get me started on potatoes’ roles in space exploration, inflight wi-fi or the Canadian Gold Rush!” He was also intrigued to find the Incans worshipped a potato goddess called Axomamma. Dutch concerns over seed trade with UK CONCERNS about future trade with the UK in seed potatoes have been voiced by Dutch Potato Organisation (NAO) as no signs of a post-Brexit deal on seed potatoes between Great Britain and the EU were apparent. NAO is the trade association for companies trading in seed and ware potatoes in the Netherlands. Many member companies export within and outside the EU, including the UK. The issue, which has seen seed exports to the continent banned, could also aect UK imports of EU seed potatoes, of which The Netherlands is the main supplier, accounting for up to 20,000 tonnes a year. Although there is currently a one-way derogation in place from the British Government, if no agreement is agreed on the phytosanitary preconditions for import and export, the export of seed potatoes from EU countries to the UK might be closed on July 21st. In a recent interview with Nature and Food Quality, the NAO’s magazine, NAO Director Dick Hylkema said: “In one way or another, seed potatoes have fallen outside the trade agreement. In fact, there is a tough Brexit for this segment of the potato sector. Free trade in seed potatoes is of vital importance, especially for breeding. That is not the case now. The Netherlands in particular is troubled by border problems, given the size of the mutual seed potato trade.” Irrigation scheduling tool released Crop4Sight has released a new potato irrigation scheduling tool. Using tailored soil type, variety information and farm irrigation capabilities, it creates schedules for the week ahead, whether the user wants to irrigate for scab control, yield or set their own soil moisture deficit (SMD). Hourly meteorological data for including evapotranspiration (ET), windspeed, relative humidity and rainfall are automatically pulled in for each crop. GRIMME UK Ltd. To nd out more about our Platinum Range Harvesters talk to your local GRIMME dealer today. GRIMME VARITRON 470 4 row self-propelled harvesting starting from just £495K The GRIMME Varitron 470 Platinum is hard to beat. Fuel ef cient engines; gentle ef cient cleaning; fast unloading (in just 40 seconds!) with a Non-Stop reversible bunker; premium cab and operator friendly, innovative control systems. With local parts and service packages from GRIMME, your harvest cost per acre could be hard to beat too! DIGGING • Terra Depth Control reduces crop damage and enhances flow • Auto pilot reduces operator fatigue CAB • ErgoDrive Control Centre – superior operator control and productivity • Clean Control – saves operator settings for specific conditions • 2 Terminals + 2 Monitors and Visual Protect with on-board cameras monitor all machine and crop-critical functions • Comfort cab option includes fridge, heated seat and side windscreen wipers myGRIMME • Customer portal includes map view; machine overview, “geofencing” and a link to the data exchange platform agrirouter Varitron model pictured contains additional options not included in the base price. l il f i i l i l i i l l i f i i i i l i i l i i l i i i l f i f i i l f i i i i l i l i i i f i li l f i i l i i i i l i i l i i