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“Last year’s crop was above expectations, which gave us the confidence to invest in a higher capacity planter, with a view to increase our acreage to a more commercially viable scale,” explains field manager David Cornwell, pictured with operator Stephen Wright. “It could have been beginner’s luck, but we had some great advice, and chose to make the most of it.” The triple bed planter was chosen for its capacity, with planting carried out ahead of Holkham Emerald commencing its large- scale potato growing operation. “The introduction of onions into our rotation has enabled us to get greater utilisation from our irrigation equipment, our fleet of de-stoners, bed tillers and bed formers that we already have for growing potatoes,” says David. “We’re operating on 72in track widths, which meant the planter’s sowing units needed to be tweaked so we could plant each bed with eight rows, 16.5cm apart.” The business operates on a wide variety of soils. A generous depth of top soil and its experience of growing, harvesting and storing potatoes has eased the step into onions, which will be topped, windrowed and lifted into trailers then cold-stored in readiness for distribution. “We hired a single bed Miniair from our agronomy company, so we could get to grips with the crop, before committing to higher output machinery.” Supplied by Irelands Farm Machinery, the mechanically driven, hydraulic folding planter has been used to sow onion seeds, with the aim of producing red and brown onions that can be harvested and stored on-farm, to supply to markets from December to June. “We’re applying the same amount of detail to our onion crop that we use for potatoes,” says David. “The devil is in the detail, and sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try something new.” Achieving its establishment goal, the onion crop was sown over a 10-day period towards the end of March, into stone-free beds, with liquid fertiliser injected ahead of and below the seed. “We’ve been very pleased with the performance and accuracy of the Miniair,” he says. “Last year’s crop developed with a uniform canopy, which simplified harvesting. And following that trial with a hired-in Miniair planter, there was no reason to consider anything else for the task.”
SMALL SEED SPECIALIST
After hiring a single bed, eight-row Miniair Nova last year to assess the viability of adding onions to its rotation, Norfolk grower Holkham Emerald has up-scaled its operation for the 2026 season, and bought a 24-row, triple-bed version of the Kverneland Miniair Nova precision planter.
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