Don't spoil the ship for a Ha'pworth of tar

UK - June 30, 2006

The risk of inadequate blight control in potatoes is far too high a risk to take and growers are being urged to apply a robust and effective blight control programme throughout the life of the crop.  The average cost of a full potato blight programme which includes top class foliar and tuber blight protection is around £150/ha, which is equivalent to just 2% of the crop's value, (assuming a 50 t/ha crop at £130/tonne), according to Dow AgroSciences.

"Potato growers cannot afford to cut corners on blight control.  This disease can devastate a crop within days, causing significant yield loss and severe problems of tuber quality.  Tuber blight in storage will mean fewer marketable tubers, more deterioration of the sample and more secondary rots.  It also means slower grading out of store and more costly load rejections.  The cost of grading out is around £15 per tonne, which far outweighs the cost of any good preventative spray programme," reports Simon Parker, Potato Specialist, Dow AgroSciences.

The cost of a robust blight control programme is also small compared to the overall costs of growing the potato crop.  "A 50 tonne per hectare crop at a price of £130/tonne gives an output of £6500/ha.  Using The Farm Management Pocketbook 2006 by John Nix, the cost of seed is estimated to be £500/ha, fertiliser £200/ha, sprays £450/ha and sundries such as levy and sacks £450/ha.  Harvesting and grading costs are around £15 tonne minimum, giving a total of £750/ha.  Assuming your own storage at a cost of £12/tonne, this will be £600/ha.  It will be higher for rented storage.  But a good blight programme costs just £150/ha.  The cost of a robust blight programme, which should include Electis for foliar and tuber blight, is just 5% of the growing costs of the crop," says Simon.

"It makes no economic sense to risk the year's investment by skimping on the cost of blight control, as the true costs of reduced yields, lower quality sample and grading out are far more critical to the bottom line," reports Simon Parker.