Carrot Country

WSU Extension Specialty Carrot Variety Trial 2006

Carrot Country
Winter 2006

Washington State University Extension’s Specialty Carrot Variety Trial 2006 was held Aug. 30 at Klaustermeir Farms near Othello, Wash.

Dr. Phil Simon, a geneticist with the ARS/USDA, Vegetable Crop Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., was on hand to evaluate the trial cultivars and receive feedback from other breeders, company representatives and fi eld men there to render their own evaluations.

Cooperators in this year’s WSU trials were Jim Klaustermeir Sr., and Jim Klaustermeir Jr., farm owners; Rob Maxwell, a plant breeder with Seminis Seeds; and Tim Waters, area extension educator, Franklin and Benton counties, WSU.

From Many Places
This year’s entries originated from major seed companies such as Seminis, Nunhems, Bejo, Crookham, Harris Moran and Sakata as well as other sources from around the world. Some were named releases, but most were experimentals. Colors ranged from traditional orange to yellow, cream, white, red and purple. Among the pedigrees shown were several with Turkish and Belgian origins.

“When evaluating a carrot, some ask ‘What am I supposed to look for?’” Simon questioned. “My response is that I don’t have all of the answers. What do you see of merit? You are the ones that will dictate whether any of these lines may have a niche and prove important to the industry.”

That said, Simon shared his personal opinion that some of the carrots shown defi nitely have potential for the fresh and/or processed markets.

“The purple carrots here likely would not work for the cut‘ n peel market because their purple color leeches through,” he said.

Several years ago, when Erik Sorenson was trialing some experimental purple varieties, Simon provided a few samples for taste-testing at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

Guests were invited to share their thoughts.

“Many had questions,” he said. “One of the most common was, ‘Are these carrots?’”

A second question was whether the carrots were GMOs because of their unusual colors. Many could not believe that what they were seeing were natural in color.

A third question was whether they were healthy?

To that, Simon informed them that most, if not all, had been evaluated by nutritionists and were proven to have definite health benefits. This ran across the color spectrum, whether they were purple, yellow, red or traditional orange. The benefi ts varied, but were there.

All carrots grown, whether intended for stews and soups or the fresh market must have sweetness and taste, the plant breeder stressed. Even if a carrot is nutritious, if it fails to meet consumer taste tests, it eventually will be dropped from the program.

Farm History
The Klaustermeir family has been growing carrots in the Columbia Basin for many years, according to Jim, Sr., who passed on management of the farm’s day-to-day
operation to his son Jim, Jr., more than 16 years ago. Today, Jim Sr., focuses most of his time on research, a love that has remained with him since his earlier days as a full-time, university level researcher.

Klaustermeir Farms is a carrot - pearl onion operation, with carrots the dominant crop. The family farms 1,500 to 1,800 acres each. Carrot acreage is generally in the 1,200-acre range. The family grows large dicer types for the processing market.