Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 31 ORGANICS to figures from Defra) while land currently in conversion has also increased, showing in a third consecutive year rise. “More businesses are getting involved in organic farming and food manufacture to meet consumer demand,’ he notes. ‘The number of organic processors increased by 6% and producers by 2% in 2017. Defra statistics show that there were 6,586 organic operators in the UK in 2017, up 3.5% since 2016. “Arable producers were receiving 50% to 100% higher premiums for their crops than non-organic farmers in 2017,” said Paul. “Our Organic Arable Report found that, often, organic farms are on average more profitable than their non-organic counterparts.” He added: “There has been a marked increase in the number of producers of organic fresh produce. More than one in three new applications to become Soil Association certified producers in the 2017–2018 financial year came from people who want to produce organic fruit and vegetables. They are meeting the demand for supermarket sales of fresh produce which have increased over a five year period by approximately £70 million. Farmers are definitely still converting.” Spreading disease risk But while Paul concedes that the lack of resource to crop protection chemicals is a problem for those producing organic potatoes, he is quick to point out that conventional growers face similar challenges with a weekly routine of spraying required to address blight and other diseases, while trying to avoid resistance to both fungicides and pesticides. “Organic farmers will often grow several varieties to spread the risk of disease and will use this to inform growing for the next year but customers and buyers play the biggest role in selection,” he said. “Some farmers have voiced their concern that the market is slow to accept new and more resistant varieties.” All the major supermarket chains offer at least one organic potato option but among the UK’s mainstream packers it has been Greenvale AP which has consistently demonstrated its commitment to the sector, partly down to a breeding programme which has produced a number of successful varieties, including Lady Balfour which was named after a pioneer of the organic movement. The company also has a 33% stake in Organic Potato Growers (Scotland) Ltd. OPG operates from a packhouse near Inverness and grows more than 200 hectares of high-grade seed, salad potatoes (Maris Peer) and organic ware crops (Valor and Lady Balfour) along the Moray coast. Greenvale has also enjoyed a 20-year collaboration with Taylor Organic Farms, a long-established business currently growing 800 hectares (2000 acres) of vegetables and combinable crops across four farms in Shropshire. The potato enterprise includes 70 hectares of salad varieties (Jester, Bambino, Alexia, Athlete and Twinner) and 110 hectares of maincrop (Triplo, Valor, Vitabella, Acoustic, Kelly and Lady Balfour). To cater for year-round demand from multiple retailers the company built a new cold store in 2018 and has two further units (1500 and 800 tonnes respectively) currently under construction. Managing director Nick Taylor is totally committed to organic production and has been stepping up efforts to find varieties that will perform better in the field and on the plate. To that end he hosted a series of trials this season with Greenvale’s agronomy subsidiary Produce Solutions. Nick is not so optimistic about immediate market prospects, blaming shortages in Europe and the fallout from two bad growing seasons in the UK. “Organic potatoes have been tracking the ups and downs of conventional production for the last year and the market here is properly short, primarily because of the two heatwaves we’ve experienced,” he said. “That’s caused the biggest problem because of the increased blight risk. A lot of organic potatoes are grown in quite dry areas and unless they are under 24-hour watch they will just burn off and die – 40 degrees is not what they like. “There is quite a shortage on the European side where markets are steadily growing. In the UK there isn’t really any growth in demand for organic potatoes but our market is also short. That’s not because of domestic consumption which is fairly flat. It’s to do with the loss of copper and the fact that fewer potatoes are being grown because it is too risky now. That has compounded the shortage of supply while demand from Europe, combined with the fact that potatoes are more difficult to grow in the UK, means that prices are strong. “Demand here has remained steady and people are wanting better produce but there have been a few problems in the last couple of years years with blight and wireworm, for example. Customers may have to be more tolerant because it’s just not possible organically to produce standards equal to conventional crops. There has been a bit of a shift lately, but we need a bit more understanding because the job is just not that easy – that’s why more growers have been giving up and there aren’t that many of us left.” ‘A need for flexibility’ Nick believes that retail produce buyers could offer encouragement and practical help, particularly when it comes to easing crop specifications. “I think they could be a little more flexible,” he said. “If the season is very wet and there are a lot of potential internal problems – or an increase in the levels of diseases which we can’t control the way a conventional farmers can – then we need to see a change in parameters within three to four weeks, but with the way the multiples “Some farmers have voiced their concern that the market is slow to accept new and more resistant varieties” ➜