Summaries of stories appearing in this issue.

March 2007

Gearing Up to Compete in a Global Market

Exciting new business opportunities await those prepared and willing to pay the price to compete in today's rapidly developing world economy.

That was the central message of Ray Cesca and Ed Barlow, keynote speakers at the 2007 Washington State Potato Conference, held Feb. 5-8 at the Big Bend Community College's ATEC Conference Center in Moses Lake.

Both drew near capacity crowds.

The former managing director of McDonald's World Trade, Cesca is the founder, president and CEO or GAEA International. GAEA promotes the development of small-to medium-sized enterprises and enables them to compete aggressively in international trade.

Calling himself a "futurist," Barlow is president of Creating the Future Inc. He averages over 120 presentations each year in a variety of settings, from think tanks and seminars to strategic planning sessions. ...

Growers Hear a Wide Range of Potato Breeding and Production Topics

With wireworms becoming more of a commercial challenge for potato growers across the United States, potato breeders have intensified their efforts to come up with resistant lines.

The good news is they are identifying genes with more resistance to the insect and are hopeful of eventually coming up with non-chemical alternatives to wireworm control, according to Rich Novy, a USDA-ARS potato plant breeder stationed in Aberdeen, Idaho.

Speaking Feb. 7 during the Washington State Potato Conference in Moses Lake, Novy noted that 39 species of wireworms (12 genera) have been identified in the U.S. Wireworms are the larvae of various click-beetles, which lay their eggs beneath the soil surface, where they hatch. In the larvae stage, they may be around for several years before emerging as adults. Wireworms bore into tubers and render them unfit for market.

A Look at the Potato Industry and Changes Needed to Remain Competitive

How is the potato industry treating you? What are your pains, your gains and how can you better compete in an increasingly competitive market?

Two high quality industry panels discussed the issues during the 40th Annual Oregon Potato Conference, held Jan. 25-26 at Oregon State University's LaSells Stewart Center in Corvallis, Ore.

Will Wise, with the USDA-APHIS, Portland, served as moderator of the first, a grower panel asked to discuss the "Pains and Gains of Potato Growers." Involved were Dan Strebin, Tony Amstad, Dan Chin, Ross Fleming, Jay Hoffman, Larry Barnes, ad Ron Pressley, all potato growers.

Mac Johnson, vice president of marketing with the U.S. Potato Board, moderated the second, a retailer-processor-broker panel focused on "Potato Needs of the Future." Participating were Karen Caplan of Frieda's, Chris Harris of New Seasons, Don Graf, representing Reser's Fine Foods, Bruce Betche of Kettle Foods and Allan French of J.R. Simplot.

Are There Potato Cyst Nematodes in Your Fields?

Oregon growers have been challenged to participate with other states in a national survey to find out if the potato cyst nematode (PCN) is present in their potato fields.

Speaking Jan. 25 during the Oregon Potato Conference in Corvallis, Dr. Russ Ingham, a nematologist at Oregon State University, urged the state's growers to sooperate even though testing of fields remains strictly voluntary. The testing is being administered by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

In April 2006, PCN were found during a routine survey of tare soil at an Idaho State Department of Agriculture grader facility in eastern Idaho. Since then the nematodes have been discovered in a total of seven fields, all within close proximity.

PCN is widely distributed in many potato-growing regions throughout the world, but other than the island of Newfoundland, Canada, has not been identified in North American, Ingham said. ...


Considering a New Planter?

By Steve Holland

When contemplating upgrading to a new or newer potato planter, the factors to weigh can seem overwhelming. Foremost may be deciding what exactly do you want to accomplish with the machine. After 25 years of work on hundreds of planters in an effort to get the best possible results from the machine, the most often cited grower concern is improved seed interval informity and mroe acres planted each day. Other than maintenance and convenience issues, that is really all one should expect from a planter. It is useful to understand the importance of the design features that affect the planter's precision in order to give each aspect the appropriate level of priority in one's decision making process.

A closer look at some of the more important parameters individually and ins ome detail can be a useful exercise. First and foremost, seed spacing uniformtiy is critically linked to crop quality. Plants compete with one another in the row for moisture, nutrients, sunlight and a physical space to grow and develop until some level of maturity is reached at the end of the season. Variations in seed spacing create imbalances that produce results other than those desired. ...



Proper Seed Handling -- Delivery to Planting

Since the beginning of potato production in the highlands of Peru, the formula for a high quality crop of potatoes has not changed. A healthy seed piece is a must if Mother Nature is to reward you with a bountiful crop at harvest.

Use Certifed Seed
One of the most important steps in obtaining a good crop is to make sure that you plant only certified see, no matter hwat state or region from which the seed is purchased. Certified seed will lessen any potential seed-related problems such as viruses, bacteria and fungi that might have been missed during the production year. With accurate field inspections and winter testing, the probability of missing serious disease problems is minimized with seed produced under seed certification standards. One must remember that potatoes entered for certification have certain lot numbers that can be traced back to grower fields. ...