Potatoes can be sprayed to kill tops before harvest so it is possible he sprayed some form of desiccant. (herbicide) Although as far as I am aware they take a week or so to work. It could also have been a fungicide,However whatever it was it shouldn't have blown into your garden. The law is pretty strict on overspray, I wouldn't eat anything from the garden until you know what was sprayed and the quickest way to find out is probably to go and ask the farmer, but try to be nice rather than confrontational you really don't want the muck heap right next to your house next year!
My first thought is that, given the horrendous prevalence of blight over the past couple of weeks, a potato farmer might well be applying an anti fungal treatment … the swirling wind at the moment makes this difficult for all concerned.
It’s true that foliage desiccants are sometimes applied to main crop potatoes to set the skins before harvesting … this helps to prevent damage to the skins and improve storage and keeping qualities. However the application of the desiccant is not quite as time sensitive as the anti-blight treatment and there’s absolutely no excuse for applying it in windy conditions near to dwellings.
Certainly Defra should be your first port of call.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks for all the input. it looks like a few other households are also affected, defra only work 9-5 so will see what the response is next week And feedback k if it might be helpfull to anyone else in the same boat. Cheers for now, S
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.