News

Rising energy costs have prompted an Angus tattie grower to make changes to his tattie storage, which have reaped rewards for crop quality and the environment as well as his bank account.

James Fairlie, who farms at Kirkton of Monikie and grows 400 acres of potatoes, had air curtains fitted to two of his stores after October’s energy bill hit £6,500 compared to £9,000 for the whole of last year.

He said: “I probably took electricity for granted in the past as it wasn’t overly expensive, but this year the high costs have given us the drive we needed to become more efficient and look at our whole operation and what we can do better.

“We had air curtains installed at two of our four stores to improve air distribution through our boxes and recent tests found that air flow has increased from the standard recommended 0.3m per second, to 1.7m per second.  This should lead to a reduction in disease and early indications are that crop quality has not deteriorated since being on site.

“By targeting air directly over the boxes, you reduce cooling times, improve overall efficiency and this has allowed us to reduce fridge running times by 30%, which saves a big monthly bill.”

He added that the curtains are affordable, with his own investment paying off in the first month.

“Once I install the curtains at my two other stores, I’ll be looking at an energy consumption drop of 25% on farm, which is around 100,000kwh annually,” he said.

The Farming For a Bertter Climate (FFBC) team at SAC Consulting is urging growers to monitor energy consumption, to better address efficiency levels in their stores and keep on top of spiralling costs.

Potato consultant Dr Kyran Maloney said: “Costs of storage can be daunting to calculate, but there are a number of tools including a costing model we have produced which can help.

“Growers should monitor their energy consumptions as surprisingly few stores are fitted with smart meters.  The efficiency difference between a good and a poor store can be huge and areas which can be looked at include leaks, optimising airflow by fitting curtains, and the basic servicing of refrigeration units.”