PDA says potato growers in the UK cannot afford to take their eye off the ball.
INADEQUATE potassium management jeopardises food security and freshwater ecosystem health, according to the Potassium Development Association (PDA).
As all growers are aware, potassium, alongside nitrogen and phosphorus, is a vital nutrient for potato plant growth and will be fundamental to achieving the rapid rises in crop yield necessary to sustain a growing world population.
Sustainable nutrient management is pivotal to establishing sustainable food systems and achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, says the PDA.
An estimated 20% of global agricultural soils face severe potassium deficiency, with the global trend over recent decades showing more potassium is removed than applied in harvests.
Large agricultural areas are reportedly deficient in ‘crop-available’ soil potassium. Depleting crop-available potassium threatens crop productivity and food security. In some countries, despite the perception of potassium-rich soils, negative soil potassium balances are causing crop yield losses.
The UK could be deemed to be one of the perceived potassium-rich countries but although some UK areas may be high in K, or on potassium-releasing clays, data from the British Survey of Fertiliser Practice (BSFP) has identified for some time that potassium inputs are not matching potassium offtake.
This, combined with data from the PAAG soil tests, suggest that growers in the UK cannot afford to take their eye off the ball with potassium management, particularly with potential yield losses.
Only around 65-70% of the UK’s total arable area receives annual potash, which will not be sufficient to maintain soil reserves across the UK.
New research involving researchers at UCL, University of Edinburgh and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology found that more potassium is being removed from agricultural soils than is being added, throughout many regions of the world.
Co-author Professor Mark Maslin (UCL Geography) said: “Potassium is critical to sustaining the crop yields that keep the world fed, and its depletion poses a significant threat to the food security of millions of people around the world. This is an overlooked issue that needs to be addressed with a range of actions as the world population continues to grow.”
The researchers highlight how in April 2022, the price of potash increased 500% above the previous year following a “perfect storm” of factors, including rising fertiliser demand, escalating fuel prices, recovery from the pandemic, a range of government actions around the world, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Belarus together export about 42% of the word’s potash supply, but following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UK, US, Canada and the EU imposed import sanctions on the two countries, disrupting global supplies.
