Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 31 AWARD-WINNING GROWERS MIEDEMA MERCER MACHINERY Potato Handling and Irrigation Specialists Miedema Mercer Machinery Limited, Unit 2 Bowley Court Farms Hope-Under-Dinmore Leominster Herefordshire HR6 0PL Email sales@downsuk.com Telephone 01568 797601 www.downsuk.com DOWNS Miedema Mercer Machinery Delighted to bring Downs Innovation & Performance to the UK! “Family is at the heart and soul of our business and is why together we throw everything into it,” he said, adding: “People have to think outside the box during the challenging times we face.” Now in its seventh year, the British Farming Awards, organised by AgriBriefing, rewards all kinds of farmers who have made their business a success through innovation, determination, grit and foresight. Solution to soil water retention Charles Creyke of Aquagronomy, Wheel Track Roller Combi, Yorkshire, won the silver Machinery Innovator of the Year British Farming Award. Charles invented the Aqueel, a reservoire tillage tool which can be fitted to a Potato planter to maximise irigated water. The roller system creates indentations in the soil surface, thus increasing surface area and Charles then looked to develop a solution for soil water retention in compacted tramlines. With surface run-off in all crops, but particularly heavily trafficked crops such as potatoes, lifting compacted soils helps with water infiltration. However, increasing the area available for water infiltration, and slowing its progress down the field is also an important consideration says Charles. With this in mid, a new design has been thought up: The Wheel Track Roller Combi. A subsoiler with legs angled outwards, towards the rooting zone of the growing crop, creates channels for water to seep through. Behind a plastic wheel, designed for self- cleaning, high-slip, low soil adherence plastic Roller forms angled elongated reservoirs to hold the surface water and at the same time creates perforations which facilitate the ingress of the water into the soil which remains soft around the channels generated by the tines. Unlike using a straight tine to loosen the soil, which can lead to trafficability issues, this system does not, while also decreasing runoff. Initial tests show that untouched tramlines saw a runoff of 23.9% whereas wheel track roller combi tramlines resulted in just 1.9% in combinable crop. The first was sold to the Broads Authority last summer following the prototype machine being made available to catchment officers. Charles Creyke of Aquagronomy.