Welcome to Yara's grow the future podcast. Yara is the global leader in crop nutrition, knowledge and a producer of quality fertilizer products. Grow the future with Yara .
Hello again, and welcome. I'm Ken Rundel, and in this podcast, I'm looking at potatoes along with Mark Tucker. Yara's head of agronomy. Mark, back at the turn of the year, the advice to potato growers focused on base dressings and getting the crop off to a good start. But my impression is that the season's turned out to be quite a cold late one with things only beginning to motor in recent days or weeks if I'm right. How much of these base dressings has been utilized?
Yeah, you make a good point Ken , it's certainly been one of those difficult seasons, again, probably a season, more of a season that we have to get used to where we get these extremes. I was just looking the other day that, eight out of the last 11 have been below average dry Springs.
So maybe that's something more that we have to get used to, but of course that was followed by a very wet winter and it's these extremes, the volatility that, isn't helping, but yeah, so the question really then moves to the crops that went in, they are behind for sure and we see a sort of mix across the regions, but I would think typically we're certainly 10 days behind, maybe further in some cases behind where we would normally be.
That would h ave had an immediate sort of impact on really understanding whether that's, u m, base dressing that's gone on how much has been utilized and that needs to be factored into management decisions going forward.
And so moving forward, we have to be alert. Next, I suppose, the different elements of tuber quality and marketability, and that begins with tuber initiation and then resistance to damage, I suppose, like bruising and disease.
Yes I mean the knock-on effect of sort of slightly unknowns around that nutrient uptake , then absolutely start to impact potentially on tuber quality. And if we think about that for a minute, then , that tuber quality is going to be , a result of disorders, which can be related to the sort of mechanical damage bruising that happens. It can be a result of just not enough nutrients being able to sort of build sugars starches and proteins within the potato.
But then finally you get the knock on effect of some of the nutrition, which can again, affect tuber quality that comes out more after the sort of cooking process. So there , we can be thinking about the effect that acrylamides have the precursors to acrylamide development within the potato that gives that browning during cooking process, then again, can all be influenced by the nutrient uptake thats happened.
Some of the key that we start to look at very much excess nitrogen can obviously have an impact, but also then deficiencies in calcium, potassium, magnesium all have a sort of part to play in this,
Yes, calcium particularly it's getting the calcium to the right part of the potato at the right time.
Yes, I mean, it's, we're really on that sort of moment of truth now, if you, like, in terms of tuber initiation happening for growth . So out in the field, be looking at that, looking at the potato development, looking for that tuber initiation, and , and that is exactly the time where we need to really get a soaking almost of calcium around that stolen and the developing initiating tuber.
And if we achieve that, then we get some calcium into that tuber , we don't want it really in the leaf,we want it in the tuber because we can then start to build cell integrity which is all part of the defense of that developing tuber because calcium is really its role in the plant is about integrity of the cell membrane .
So the cell wall itself, the cell membrane all has almost an egg box type structure to where calcium and also boron are important to that structure, and that builds integrity in the cell and the cell wall that then gives the plant a great resistance to mechanical damage, penetration by pathogens, et cetera, but now is the time to do it because if we can get that calcium in and around that stolen and developing tuber and now then we stand the best chance of getting , integral cell walls, which
act for resistance against those problems.
So it's using nutrients to cope with other, other damage that might, might come about. So I suppose once the tube is set, it's all about swelling them and then , uh, insuring things like sugar levels and dry matter content are okay. You really are looking to avoid checks, aren't you?
Yeah. I mean, one of the dangers of sort of stop start weather patterns and stop starting nutrient supply, then impinges on that growth rate and expansion. And we can end up with cracking hollow hearts disorders like that, which is very much related to stop start nutrient supply.
And at the same time, you then start to get the haulm, the shores will say in Scotland up, lots of leaf cover and then maximum photosynthesis and sending the haulm, sending the sugars down into the tubers, and that's an important area as well you want to look at.
Yes, absolutely when we've got those other nutrients that I mentioned to think about potassium and magnesium phosphate there as well and once that canopy developed, then it's all about those leaves acting as a source of carbohydrate sugar and then sending it down to the sink, which is the tuber and that's the bit we want to really maximize and optimize.
So making sure, and that process is very much driven by potassium as a pumping mechanism, phosphate as the energy supply to the process to actively move it down the plant, not through the sort of transpiration water stream up the plant. So there, we can be thinking about feeding that canopy with foliar products, which contain the magnesium, phosphate, potassium, mag phos, K from the YaraVita range classic product there to use in that window.
And the other important thing is to keep an eye on things, keep monitoring, and there are various tools in the box for that.
Yeah. I mean, absolutely the tools that are out there. We can either send off tissue for analysis and if nitrogen is a big part to play in the story and getting a guideline there, so we could send off tissues and we're really looking for 5%, as a figure in that leaf to see if that nitrogen supplies optimum but that will tell us a whole host of other issues that might be there in terms of deficiencies. So we can check for leaf analysis.
There are leaf sensors, our own and N-Tester can be used for monitoring the canopy just to see how nutrient uptake is progressing. Nitrogen uptake is progressing there.
And then of course there's monitoring of the canopy from above, from the satellites for you, where we can now get imagery through our Atfarm platform is one example there where we can get satellite imagery on a weekly basis or even two or three during a weeks period where we get good imagery coming through, and of course that can be used to really scout the canopy of the potato crop a great way of identifying early those problems.
And you mentioned early, they're , they can be really early far earlier than most people think these days with artificial intelligence and the way that this technology has developed.
Yeah, we've noted that over the years that that sort of imagery can be two, three weeks in advance of our own sort of our eyes picking up the problems. And we know that the canopy of the potato crop is not easy once it's full there to scout across. So anything we can do, which can just help pinpoint some of those problem areas and take us to them , uh , to explore further with further testing or just observations, just to see what's going on.
So don't turn your back on that kind of assistance. An agronomist is an important key in any farming operation, but at the same time, they don't have it all, then they need, they need aids as well to help them to guide them.
Yeah. And I think that's something, you know, sometimes there's almost a competition that builds between the technology and the agronomist, but the two are absolutely hand in hand, you need both that the technology can really help the agronomist find and understand the problems, but they're really the ultimate decision makers in terms of bringing it all together,
Coming back to our tuber quality, then the final element or the final part of the chain, which is obviously at this stage some stage ahead and that's the issues related to processing or cooking, which you've mentioned previously and that's includes things which lead to discoloration.
Yeah, and it's , it's a growing area with research around problems such as the acrylamide issue and something that in the early days, but there's an element of translating across from other understandings and sulphur has been identified as playing a key role in acrylamide formation or reducing acrylamide formation, I should say so again, we can translate that across, we're still in need of research to really get some good evidence behind that.
But I think so far we know plays a key part in crop growth and development, but also there's a thought that it's playing a key part in helping to reduce the potential risks of acrylamide formation during cooking. So again, something else that potato growers should have in their thoughts in terms of managing nutrients,
But there's a particular relationship between sulphur and nitrogen.
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really the nitrogen and sulphur management and then the amino acids that are laid down on the back of that, which is the, and those amino acids then are the precursors to the acrylamide formation. So it's a kind of technical, complicated story, but it's very much that nitrogen sulphur relationship which is having the influence.
And as I've been learning over this time with Yara podcasts , we can't assume that that sulphur levels are the same in every part of the country, and certainly most soils are actually low in sulphur anyway, but that , but the levels vary in different parts of the UK.
Yeah . Variations coming through from yeah. Historic use of manures through soil types through close proximity to industry in terms of what your deposition should look like. The data generally says that 80, 90% of soils are now deficient. So most farmers should have it as part of their strategy rather than not part of strategy. And you should find reasons almost not to use it rather than to use it.
So I think the data is quite clear in terms of how deficiency shows now in accordance with the deposition of sulphur from industry falling over the same period.
Remember it is localised as far as that is concerned. It seems a stupid thing to say when farmers have coped with varying seasons for millennia, but we seem to be facing an even more volatile climate just now. So using technology, using monitoring is particularly sensible, isn't it?
Yeah, I think so , i just sort of highlighted it in that sort of early bit that we've looked data recently, which has really highlighted t hat the average masks what's going on and this sort of widening of the graph where you see the extremes and droughts and the extremes of rainfall over such a critical time from winter through spring and early, s ome o f it treating every year and being sort of d ata-driven and reacting and being appropriate for that season, that s ite just becomes e ver more
important, I think.
But unlike, let's say COVID, which where governments keep telling us, we have to wait three weeks to see what a result of a decision t hey're going to be, what we've just been talking about with things like satellite imagery is that if you get them in the air, then you can start to actually be ahead of the game.
Yeah, absolutely. It sort of drives you to be proactive with your decision making relevant too reactive. And I think the same can be said for tissue analysis that we can be checking crops again in advance of waiting for a symptom to apply. So it's that same thing, trying to be proactive with our d ecision m aking rather than reactive.
So if we were to round up mark, what is your advice to growers what are the key points you want them to remember from this?
Yeah, I think in , in terms of potato quality, then we're right on that now in terms of being able to have an influence on that and the big focus there would be making sure you've got calcium coming through. When you start to look at product choices, then solubility of that calcium is number one there, because there's many products out there, but you've got to get that calcium through the soil, around that tuber.
So solubility and water solubility , so therefore you want to be looking for that calcium nitrate YaraLiva Tropicote product to do that. But then keeping an eye on that canopy as it looks to then drive tuber bulking so there, we're thinking about that magnesium phosphate potassium relationship. So those three key nutrients to help drive that sort of canopy and the efficient canopy, the we've produced so far.
Mark Tucker, thanks very much a lot to think about there, but we have been talking about a very valuable and expensive to produce crop and that's all for this podcast. Thank you for listening. Join me, Ken Rundle for the next one in a couple of weeks time.
Thanks for listening to Yara's grow the future podcast for more information, visit yara .co.uk or yara . ie.