Imagine facing all the challenges you face today; uncertain market, chemical loss, public and political pressure on your environmental impact, changing weather patterns… But you’re also trying to grow potatoes in a desert.
Meet Brendon Rockey. He grows potatoes for foodservice, and seed potatoes for the North American market at Rockey Farms in Center Colarado. But he does it at 7,600ft, with less than 6 inches of rain a year. He has met this challenge by developing his own ‘Biotic Potatoes’ system and carefully managing carbon exchange using a diverse range of cover crops and grazing livestock on them.
Brendon is the keynote speaker at the Potato Industry Conference 2020, where he will guide participants through the changes he has made and what he’s learned along the way.
AHDB will host this year’s Conference online on the 24th of November,
Conference agenda at a glance
10.00 Welcome & Introduction
Morning sessions: External markets, business and consumers, including
- The British potato market
- The British potato consumer
- The European potato market
- The potato: marketing and supply chains around the world
Lunch: celebrating potatoes
- The best potato recipes
- The Potato Industry Awards
Afternoon: The technical outlook for potatoes
Keynote Speaker Brendan Rockey
- Probiotic and Antibiotic Thinking
- Integrated Pest Management: Managing for aphids in a probiotic system
- Mechanical Weed Management in a probiotic system
- Cover Crop Grazing: Optimizing the carbon cycle in potato production
This free to attend conference is available to book now. Go here to view the detailed programme and to book online.
Source: AHDB
