Initial trials by Dyson Farming and Groundswell Agronomy in the UK are highlighting how difficult potato production with zero-tillage is likely to be commercially, as Mike Abram reports for Farmers Weekly.
But managing potato crops with reduced tillage, not zero tillage, while embracing other principles of regenerative agriculture is showing more promise.
Dyson Farming is increasingly moving to reduced cultivations in other crops across its farm – ploughing has been reduced by 60% over the past couple of years, with 45% of the area having a cover or catch crop each season, but potatoes are a sticking point, the firm’s Tom Storr says.
A more regenerative approach to potato production would help it maintain the soil improvements resulting from those changes, while potentially also reducing costs and opening potato production to land where it is currently not possible, such as heath land.
Source: Farmers Weekly. Read the full story here
Photo: Credit Tim Scrivener via Farmers Weekly
