Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW MAY/JUNE 2023 55 AGTECH Calculated task to improve production CRISPING potato supplier Mercian has been collecting data via face-to-face carbon audits on farm for almost two years, after teaming up with the Farm Carbon Toolkit in 2021 to create a bespoke carbon calculator module for potato production. Jazzy Kemp, Mercian’s Sustainability co- ordinator, has the role of visiting all its growers’ farms across the country to get the farms up and running with the calculator. “One of the aims is to highlight to our growers the importance of lowering their carbon footprint. We know potatoes are a high carbon crop and it will be extremely di cult for them to become carbon neutral in the near future, but highlighting hotspots in their emissions and discussing ways to reduce it is crucial,” she said. e supplier’s primary aim currently is to collect as much good farm carbon data as possible then reduce the time spent inputting information onto the calculator and make it simpler for its growers. “We have linked our LiveTrace platform to the FCT’s calculator. is integration will pull live data from our platform including spray/ fertiliser applications, haulage miles, seed information, machinery (age and horsepower), onto a summary page which then feeds into the calculator,” said Jazzy. “ is will improve the accuracy of data input and reduce time and e ort collating information. Measuring carbon is going to be an ongoing operation rather than a one-o calculation, we feel this is particularly important. Using an API, collection of speci c data frompotato elds on our cloud platformwill allowus to distinguish between the carbon produced from growing potatoes and other crops on the same farm, which is unique. “We have chosen FCT to integrate with because we felt their calculator has the best features and is the most detailed. e benchmarking tool gives more meaning to the results for the farmers as they can compare their results to our other potato growers.” ‘Anticipation is best prevention’ ANTICIPATING risks presented from disease and pests is key to providing optimal crop protection and connected weather stations can o er a real solution to this. e manufacturers of Sencrop, a weather station which connects to a collaborative weather application to help growers detect when crops are at risk, points out that potato production is subject to numerous risks of disease and pests whose development can be responsive to local meteorological factors. “In order to optimally protect crops, it is necessary to anticipate the risks. is is what allows you to optimise protection as well as the nancial and environmental management of treatments,” the company states in a recent advisory bulletin. Weather stations allow growers to follow the weather data of plots to anticipate risk and optimise treatments, enabling growers to monitor agronomic indicators of disease and pest risk directly in the application. Local weather data can be connected to decision support tools (DST). Decision support tools (DST) are tools developed in the agricultural world which allow the analysis of a situation, the adjustment of interventions or the de nition of strategic choices, according to the detected risks. ese can be connected to local weather data. “ e rst level of use of Sencrop for disease and pest management is based on the use of weather data. anks to the weather stations connected directly to your plots, you can monitor rainfall, hygrometry, temperature, etc. is data will allow you to anticipate the risk of pests and diseases in your elds,” the bulletin states. “ is weather data will also enable you to identify the best window for carrying out your phytosanitary treatments. Indeed, for a treatment to be e ective and to limit the dispersion of the active ingredient, it is necessary to carry out the treatments in optimal conditions of wind, rainfall or temperature for example.” Treatment alerts can then be set up in your application based on your weather data. is allows you to be alerted to conditions that are conducive to disease development or to identify the best time to spray. While the use of meteorological data makes it possible to assess disease risks and optimise the application of treatments, agronomic indicators of disease risk can be a major help in prevention. Potato production is subject to numerous risks of disease and pests.