Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 31 NEW VARIETIES but we can also have 40 boxes of something that’s unsalable. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking if I’d have planted Markies, I’d have them out the door and a nice little profit in my pocket. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! “We put new varieties out to our more discerning chip shop fryers and ask them for constructive feedback. We need to knowhowwell they fry across our portfolio of end-users which all treat our potatoes slightly differently. Some double fry, some single fry, some use sunflower oil, others in beef dripping. We also need feedback onwhether they sit well in hot boxes.” Some of the issues that arise Christopher can address agronomically, enzyme greying, for example, but he says this takes a couple of seasons. So far Babylon has been well received by P J Lee & Sons’ customers, and is now entering its fourth year so Christopher feels he’s a good handle on optimising its production. “Babylon yields slightly better than Agria and the plants look healthier. That’s partly because it’s a newer variety and hasn’t been multiplied up so many times. It’s got loads of vigour too.” Babylon is thriving on the farm’s stronger mineral-rich soils. Christopher uses precision farming with variable rate applications and is applying, on average, 150-180kg/ha of nitrogen, 100kg/ha phosphorus and 300kg/ ha potassium. He says Babylon has proven to have very few internal defects, strong Alternaria resistance and drought tolerance as well as, strong skins enabling late storage. “We’re spacing tubers at 35cm. While we’ve not had any hollow heart with Babylon yet, we’re mindful of its parentage and its tendency for vigorous growth and bold tubers. With Agria we’ve found if we have rainfall after a dry spell, the tubers grow too fast. By reducing the spacing, we restrict that growth and prevent incidences.” Christopher can see Brexit accelerating the proportion of Babylon grown on farm. “With the current seed issues and restrictions, I can see us only having English or Scottish seed, which will mean 10% of our crop – that acreage with the strongest soil types - will be Babylon now. “We’ll be aiming it for the premium end of our range and will go in the longer-term stores to give us the biggest return.” While Babylon may be proving to be one of Christopher’s key varieties, he’ll continue to trial others. For him, communication is key. The farming operation is very much a team effort and he relies on his storeman, Graham to highlight both the good and bad, allowing Christopher and the agronomic team to look at any differences in crop management. This, he says, is what gives father, Richard, the edge, allowing him to trade consistently high-quality produce and offer customers continuity of supplies until the foreign samples arrive from Spain in July. “The variety is looking promising. It has bred reasonably well. Numbers were good and it got up to size really quickly.” Peter Shields, seed grower