In the latest of our special reports commissioned by guest editor Gary Burgess, we asked William Church of the Jersey Royal Company to share his thoughts on the state of the sector – particularly with the Jersey Royal getting significant national coverage in recent weeks, not least with a feature on TV show This Morning with celebrity chef Phil Vickery. Here’s what William has to tell us:
The environment that we work in growing and marketing Jersey Royal new potatoes is ever-changing, and the fact that the demand for the crop remains so strong is fantastic at a time when general consumption of potatoes is falling.
Agriculture on the Island continues to face many challenges, but with two internationally recognised exports in the form of Jersey Royal new potatoes and the Jersey cow, it more than holds its own on the world map!
1. Seasonal labour
One of the hottest topics of conversation this season has been staff recruitment. Undoubtedly since the announcement of Brexit and the subsequent fall in the strength of sterling against other currencies recruitment has become much more challenging, and all businesses are having to work much harder to secure necessary levels of seasonal labour. The Jersey Royal Company employs up to 420 seasonal workers at the height of the season, and has a team of five people employed to manage all recruitment, retention and welfare matters. All seasonal colleagues brought to the Island are housed, including 120 people in a hotel where they are also catered for, with the rest living in self-catering accommodation on different sites around the island.
Recruiting has got much harder, and the business which until recently had relied heavily on recruits from Poland now employs an increasing number of Romanians to work alongside Polish and Portuguese nationals. The number of returning employees has improved slightly in the last year having dipped significantly 2 years ago, and word of mouth is still without questions the most successful method of recruitment.
2. Action for cleaner water – nutrient reduction
Nitrate levels in water have for some time been a cause for concern. The Jersey Royal Company is working with other interested parties, including Jersey Water and the Jersey Farmers’ Union on a project called ‘Action for cleaner water’. The group has updated the catchment RAG ratings for 2018 which now includes Handois West and East as a red zone.
Alongside this there is a published list of approved products that can be used on crops by catchment, and guidelines for their usage. Whilst recognising that Jersey has historically had high levels of nitrates in both ground and surface water, and that there are many contributory sources to that, agriculture does play a part. With this in mind, The Jersey Royal Company has rolled out a project trialled in 2017 to use bespoke machinery that places fertiliser in the rows around the seed potatoes where it is needed as opposed to the traditional method of broadcasting. In doing this, the company has reduced its fertiliser usage by between 5 and 10%, and is continuing to run trials to see if it will be possible to reduce further application rates.
3. Soil laboratory and soil sampling using GPS technology
The Jersey Royal Company has run its own soil laboratory since 2012. This was established to allow the company to better monitor the results from its regular soil sampling programme. Each year assessments are made from up to 1,800 fields with respect to pH, NPK and potato cyst nematode populations. In 2017 in order to provide more consistency to the sampling process the company invested in a quad bike and uses GPS mapping to record how samples are taken across each field unit. The results support, in particular the bio-controls that are used to combat PCN activity, and also help decisions around lime application and other soil management.
4. Mini tuber production
The Jersey Royal Company brings in virus free seedlings each year. These are potted out in one of our own greenhouses to produce mini tubers. These mini tubers / high health seed is then multiplied up over two years before being used for export, and no seed potatoes used are ever more than five years old, this helps maintain healthy crops on an annual basis.
High health seed ensures improved vigour and a cleaner more stable crop, delivering a better product to the end consumer. The Jersey Royal Company is the only potato growing and packing business on Jersey that runs an in-house operation like this, and has done so since 2010.
5. MAP film
Following a successful trial period in 2016 using two online laser perforators, The Jersey Royal Company invested further to roll this project out onto the remaining packing lines ahead of the start of the 2017 season.
The company operates a Fast respiration meter at its pack house to measure the respiration rate of the potato crop on a daily basis. Using the results from this it is possible to vary the number of laser perforations in the film, hence controlling the exchange of O2 and CO2 in and out of the pack, slowing the ageing process of the potato, and to ultimately offer better a better shelf-life to the end consumer.
