PSI Bulletin: August 2024
No. 8/24 SUBSCRIBER EDITION: please go to potatostorageinsight.com/subscribe to sign up as a Synopsis subscriber.
Dear Subscriber,
Welcome. You are reading Synopsis, your August potato storage update from Potato Storage Insight.
Another storage season is fast approaching so hopefully some of the preparatory work we have featured in these bulletins over the past few months is already in hand. Importantly, if equipment servicing and calibration work is all done, you should be able to get right to it.
If you're changing a stacking pattern, or have a new forklift driver, don't forget to set out some empty boxes to make sure the new layout works and everybody's clear on where the boxes are going. Mark the floor if needs be. It is much better to do this than try to correct it once the boxes are full and crop is arriving at pace into the store. Don't overcrowd the store; remember that air has to be able to move freely through the potatoes to be effective. Equally so, don't leave wide aisles in the store that can offer air a shortcut - block any walkways at the fan end of the store to prevent this.
Finally, don't forget to take the meter readings before you load, so you have accurate data on energy use from Day 1.
Best practice
Blight control: don't skimp at the end of your programme!
Blight risk has been moderate of late but a turn in the weather ahead of harvest could heighten the threat prior to harvest and storage. The important message is to maintain the control programme right through the season to keep blight at bay and that includes controlling infection well enough to eliminate the risk of tuber blight.
Store cleaning: a crucial step in CIPC residue control
One of the key risks our industry is managing at the moment is the risk from chlorpropham (CIPC) contamination in previously-treated stores. Wherever residues fall between the limit of detection (0.01 mg/kg) and the current temporary MRL (0.35 mg/kg), we are essentially in uncharted waters. Under normal circumstances such a result from an unapproved treatment would mean that a crop is deemed unsuitable for sale.
Fortunately, with the tMRL in place, we are being granted some leeway to manage the residual effect of CIPC over a more extended period. One way to do this is to be particularly rigorous over the summer with store cleaning, dust removal and venting of stores. These measures will help to reduce any long-term CIPC loading and ensure that, as the tMRL is ultimately lowered, stores can still be used without risk of exceedance.
Technical Insight
The importance of skin set in potato storage
The diagram below is typical of something I might draw at the start of a PSI Store Managers' Course just to get delegates thinking about some of the processes that are at play when we start to load a store,
Often critical are the biochemical changes going on. We are dealing with a living organism after all, so the tuber lenticels (breathing pores) are exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide! But also important are the thermodynamics of the system we are loading. That respiration process will be generating heat for a start: around 20 W/tonne*, so we need to be able to remove it effectively. And, for every tonne of potatoes you store, you are dealing with over 700 kg of water coming into your building that needs to be preserved. It is what you will sell!
Hopefully, it is all being kept under control by the potato skin. But, if the skin isn't there, is damaged or is coming away as the crop is handled, we can soon have some big problems to deal with! A scuffed area on a potato will be losing water at ~50-100 times the rate compared with a fully 'set' skin. As soon as we start blowing air around each potato, this will increase. And a lack of an intact skin makes a warm and moist tuber very vulnerable to infection. Diseases like soft rot, blackleg, blight or pink rot thrive in a moist environment around the potatoes and, at typical September harvest temperatures, can quickly get a hold of a newly-harvested crop.
Basically, in a nutshell, it is simple. Don't store potatoes that don't have a set skin. Better to wait a couple of days to let full skin set occur rather than forcing the pace and regretting it afterwards.
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*Harper et al (2017). AHDB project R484
Potato Days UK: return of the working 'demo'
Potato Days UK is a new initiative from DLG, the organisers of many of the world’s major agricultural events and shows, including AGRITECHNICA. They have teamed up with some key potato industry players to bring an event that will be similar to the annual European field-scale working demonstrations to the UK for the first time in 2024.
Those over a certain age will recall the very popular field demonstration events being held back in the days of the old Potato Marketing Board, when they were organised by a former colleague of mine, the late Oliver Statham (below), who was a master at putting on a good show. It is reasonable to expect a few more restrictions on machinery access at this event compared with back then!
Potato Days UK is being held at the Nocton Estate, near Lincoln, LN4 2GR, courtesy of Dyson Farming Ltd. What3words: //blankets.tilts.gliders
The show opens at 0800 on Wednesday 4 September and runs until 1700. Demonstrations start at 1000. On Thursday 5 September, the same morning times apply but proceedings close an hour earlier at 1600.
There is a comprehensive website detailing all the activities and exhibitors at the event at https://potato-days.uk
Restrain launches 'PET': a new microdose system
Restrain, suppliers of ethylene treatment systems, has recently launched its new Precision Ethylene Technology (PET) process for optimising the introduction of ethylene to potato stores.
The process uses micro-doses of ethylene introduced prior to the start of full treatment to pre-condition crops into the ethylene environment and reduce any adverse impact that a sudden switch to ethylene may otherwise introduce.
Restrain, like other ethylene systems, has always recommended use of a gradual, 'ramped' introduction of the treatment but the PET system looks to take this one stage further to smooth out the ethylene start-up even more.
Snippets
CIPC report submitted by CRMG
The CIPC Residues Monitoring Group (CRMG) has submitted its first report to HSE's Chemical Regulation Division on chlorpropham residue levels found in crops held in previously treated stores during the 2023-24 storage season.
The data will be used to support the need for a temporary MRL for the chemical which persists in buildings and boxes for some significant amount of time after its last use. CIPC was banned from use on potato in January 2020.
At this stage, it is expected that there will be a need to submit data from the 2024-25 season in the same way next season, so all offers of data will be very much welcomed. Contact adrian@potatostorageinsight.com if you can assist.
CRMG will be present at the forthcoming Potato Days event; find information on the GB Potatoes and Stored Crop Conservation stands.
Ian Toth
Congratulations to Professor Ian Toth (right) of James Hutton Institute who has been elected the new President of the European Association for Potato Research.
Ian is the head of the new Potato Innovation Centre being created at the JHI site in Dundee.
PSI activity: Wholecrop Marketing Trials Day, 1 August
A very sharp deluge of rain marked my arrival at this event held at South Cave just east of Hull at the start of this month.
Fortunately, the rain subsided and the sun came out to give the Wholecrop Marketing team some decent weather for much of the day so visitors had an opportunity to walk around the nicely-presented plots from a wide range of seed houses and merchants,
It was nice to see some new varieties on show with some good storage qualities such as stable sugars and long dormancy...
Thanks to all at WCM for organising the day.
Forthcoming events
If you are hosting a potato or agricultural industry event, please send details to admin@potatostorageinsight.com. Key dates with relevance to the potato sector in the coming months in the UK include:
August
Wed 30 - Thu 31 UK Potato Breeders Days, hosted by GR Ward at Caythorpe, Lincs.
September
Wed 4 - Thu 5 Potato Days UK hosted by Dyson Farming, Nocton, Lincoln. See above.
November
Wed 6 Agri-Tech E REAP conference, Cambridge
Wed 27 - Thu 28 CropTech, NAEC, Stoneleigh
December
w/c 2 Dec provisional date for PSI storage breakfast meetings in Scotland
Tue 12 - Wed 13 CUPGRA Conference, Cambridge
March 2025
Tue 4 - Wed 5 PSI 2-day residential Store Managers' Course: provisional date
Join our waiting list by emailing adrian@potatostorageinsight.com
International Events
11-12 Sep POTATO EUROPE, Villers St Christophe, Picardie, France (below)
6-8 Nov POTATO VARIETY DAYS, Emmeloord area, The Netherlands
24-26 Nov INTERPOM '24 Kortrijk, Belgium
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