November 2005
Will
Growing Specialty
Potatoes Work for You?
Is there money to be made in growing and marketing
specialty potato varieties?
What lines are emerging from the Tri-State Potato Variety Development
Program that may prove profitable in the future?
These were among the questions asked Dr. Chuck Brown during a recent interview.
A geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service,
Brown hosted a Sept. 23 specialty potato field day at the USDA/ARS Systems Research
site near Paterson, Wash. Approximately 200 clones were on display, both in bags
and on the ground so that visitors could see and handle them for themselves.
Both seed and commercial growers and processors were represented.
The following questions and answer originate from the interview:
Q: Do you see specialty
potatoes becoming more than a small, niche market?
A: Yes, I think they will. How big that will be and how much the market
is going to grow has yet to be identified, but almost every company
that we’ve approached, or that has approached us and asked for
information, has indicated an interest in having a fairly substantial
market. They would like to see a lot of acres planted and would like
to be involved in marketing what’s grown.
Basically, everybody loves potatoes, so what these marketers are looking
for is novelty—some sort of health benefits. Here, we are talking
about potatoes that have a little bit different nutrition—higher
antioxidants, for example, something they can promote and say on the
packaged product that will attract consumers.
Rio Grande
Russet Joins Popular Offerings from the Colorado Program
History of production area:
Potatoes were grown in Colorado as early as 1880 and now cover about
70,000 total acres. In the early 1920’s potato growers saw the
need to bring a highly focused effort toward improving the quality of
seed potatoes available to growers in Colorado and neighboring states.
Thus, they began a certified seed potato program. In 1940, the State
of Colorado Department of Agriculture, through Colorado State University,
commissioned the Potato Certification Service.
The Colorado seed potato industry is concentrated in the San Luis Valley.
This is an isolated, arid, high mountain valley located 7600 feet above
sea level. Summer days are warm and sunny and evenings are cool. Winters
are cold, eliminating volunteer potatoes and reducing insect and disease
pressure during the growing season.
About 15,400 acres were entered for
certification in 2005, a slight increase from 2004. Colorado currently
ranks as the No. 2 seed producing state in the United States based on
acres entered and accepted.
Certification program:
All acreage on any one seed grower operation must be eligible and entered
for certification, insuring all acreage is inspected for all pertinent
diseases. A limited generation increase for seed potato production
is required. All seed stocks are derived from disease-tested tissue
culture stock. Entry level stocks of tissue culture plantlets are free
from harmful potato viruses and bacteria. Modern, internationally accepted
testing techniques are used for disease testing.
Montana: A
History of
Consistent, High Quality Seed
Montana produces around 3.5 million lbs. of seed potatoes yearly; approximately
60 percent are shipped to Washington, 15 percent to Idaho and the remainder
to Oregon, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The state’s seed potato production areas are all located inside
the Rocky Mountains center around Manhattan, Dillon, Polson, Kalispell
and Toston. In these areas, the summers are short, winters are cold and,
most importantly, these areas are isolated and contain very little disease
vectors.
Under such nature conditions, Montana seed potato growers have been making
every effort to produce the best quality seed possible for seed users
as well as keeping Montana free from infections of the potato diseases
of concern for growing seed potatoes.
History
Montana began its seed potato production program in 1926. Professors
at Montana State University set up a greenhouse indexing service to
help growers sort out disease-infected seed sources and performed field
inspections to help them further eliminate seed lots of excessive disease
infection. Drs. M. M. Afansiev, Elwood Morris, Frank Harrington and
Fred Staring were among those who contributed their time to the seed
potato program and studied potato diseases in Montana. Edward Isaac,
who did field inspection and worked with growers directly, was remembered
most by the growers for his education and relentless personal contact.
Idaho
Certified Seed Program
Dates Back to Before 1913
Idaho growers have certified seed potatoes since before 1913. The University
of Idaho designated Idaho Crop Improvement Association to be its agent
to carry out seed certification in Idaho. Some early, key growers who
produced certified seed potatoes were Preston Atchley (Ashton), Adolph
Heinrich (Lake Fork) and Harold Varley (Grace). These growers were both
producers of seed potatoes and leaders in the seed potato industry.
Idaho's program has five main checkpoints. There are two field inspections,
a storage inspection, a post-harvest test of every seed lot and a true
third-party shipping point inspection carried out by the Federal-State
FFV Service. Seed lots are identified and their location in storage is
mapped after harvest. Seed lot identity and separation is then strictly
maintained. Idaho's certification program is carrying out an experimental
greenhouse grow out to determine whether an earlier post-harvest result
can be obtained.
Russet Burbank accounts for the greatest acreage of seed potatoes in
Idaho. Ranger Russet, Russet Norkotah and selections, Shepody and Alturas
follow as the second, third, fourth and fifth varieties in terms of acreage.
Potato Seed
Certification
in Central Oregon
Potatoes were first
certified in Oregon back in 1913. Don Brewer, retired Oregon Seed Certification
specialist and director of Oregon's program for 25 years, recently completed
a book on the history of certification within the state. The title is: "Oregon
Seed Production".
From his book, Brewer points out that potatoes were the first crop grown in Oregon
for food (he cites a 1795 record). The first seed potato production is believed
to have started in Central Oregon.
Potato seed certification in Central Oregon (as with the rest of Oregon) today
involves five major steps which include documentation, verification, inspections
and growouts.
Seed certification begins with an application the grower completes by June 1
(or 15 days from planting) and turns into the OSU Extension Office in Madras.
There, the office staff checks for completeness regarding maps, seed source tagging
and fees before sending it on to the Oregon Seed Certification Service office
on the OSU Campus in Corvallis. At the main office, applications are reviewed
for acceptability of variety, seed source, field history and compliance with
winter growout and other tuber inspection requirements. Once accepted, the lots
are entered into OSCS’s database and initial inspections are planned.
Washington Seed Potato
Growers Battled Fall Rains
Don’t try telling Whatcom County’s
seed potato farmers it was a dry summer. What they know is it’s
been a wet harvest.
Veteran grower Dick Bedlington said the 2005 harvest will be his most expensive
ever in terms of labor, machine repairs and fuel, all related to the water-logged
fields.
“It’s been a real tough one, as tough as I know,” Bedlington
said.
Dick and son, Scott Bedlington, looked out earlier this fall at a 50-acre field
south of Ferndale being harvested despite two inches of rain that fell the week
before.
A high-traction, caterpillar-like tractor with a full-time driver roared into
action often to pull trucks sunk and spinning in soft slop.
“But we’re digging,” Dick said, as the harvest continued. “This
is the only field we can dig in right now.”
Through the first half of this year, the north county received only a fraction
of its normal rainfall. Then on Aug. 21, the last day of the Lynden fair, a downpour
began that produced over three inches in six days. About five more inches fell
in September.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for potato harvesting in September
and October.
Performance of Arugula (Eruca sativa) as a Green Manure and Trap Crop
By Ekaterini Riga
Washington State University, IAREC,
Prosser, Washington
Arugula (Eruca sativa), a Brassica plant, has shown potential for controlling
pathogenic fungi and plant parasitic nematodes. It has a dual role, serving
both as a green manure (it contains chemicals with high biocidal activity
that mimic synthetic fumigants) and nematode-trap crop ability (nematodes
are attracted to Arugula roots, enter them and are killed if the roots
are incorporated right away before the nematodes reproduce).
Control of fungal pathogens and parasitic nematodes is essential to quality
potato production in the U.S., both for domestic and international markets.
The above organisms are successfully managed with pesticides but at great
cost that often exceeds $500 per acre. More importantly, environmental
and health issues associated with pesticides may soon restrict or eliminate
their use, leaving growers with few alternatives for effective pathogen
and nematode control. In some states, economic losses from nematodes,
alone, without chemical treatments, exceeds $40 million annually. Fortunately,
the use of green manures alone or in combination with lower rates of
synthetic nematicides has shown potential for controlling several soil-borne
pests and pathogens and may be a viable alternative to full rates of
pesticides.
Thus the search continues for additional cover crop candidates, particularly
those with multiple modes of action and high levels of efficacy against
fungal pathogens and parasitic nematodes. Cover crops and green manures
have been previously studied. However, we have chosen to work with Arugula
as it has been reported in Europe and Australia to suppress parasitic
nematodes and pathogenic fungi via its roots as a trap crop and by incorporation
as a green manure.
Researchers Looking at Viruses, Fungi, Bacteria and Insect-specific
Nematodes
With tuberworm damage a growing concern for potato growers in the Pacific
Northwest, a U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
scientist is looking at alternative controls for this costly pest.
Lawrence Lacey, Ph.D., an insect pathologist at the Yakima Agricultural Research
Laboratory in Wapato, Wash., is focused on identifying microbial controls for
insect pests. Currently, he is searching for ways to mesh these microbials with
organisms and chemical controls as part of an overall insect pest management
program.
“Late in the season, tuber moths move from feeding on green plants, which
they prefer, to tubers,” he explains. “If there are cracks in the
soil, they work their way down and into the tubers and, eventually, can show
up in storage. When this happens, a grower faces the possibility of having his
entire harvest rejected at the processing plant. There is very low tolerance
there for tuberworms.”
Treating potatoes immediately as they are removed from the ground would make
good sense but is not very practical, the researcher points out. Most chemical
applications require a preharvest interval, and applying the material inside
the storage also has its limitations.
Nematodes and Potato Seed
Russell E. Ingham
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR
Introduction
Damage to potato from nematodes and nematode-mediated diseases can have
a substantial economic impact on potato production. Several nematode
species can reduce yield and/or quality of commercial potatoes, but
only a few species inhabit northern latitudes where the majority of
potato seed is grown. In most circumstances, seed growers are not directly
affected by nematodes; however, it is important to understand the impact
that nematodes can have on commercial growers to appreciate the importance
of nematodes in potato seed production.
Nematodes of Potato Found in Regions Where Seed is Grown
Northern (Meloidogyne hapla) and Columbia (M. chitwoodi) root-knot nematodes
infect tubers as juveniles and develop to adults that lay eggs in an
egg mass surrounded by a jelly-like substance called a gelatinous matrix.
The gelatinous matrix may be brown in color and may trigger a tissue
response by the tuber that causes the area around the nematode and
egg mass to turn brown. Columbia root-knot nematode (CRKN) also causes
galling on the potato surface resulting in numerous small bumps. External
bumps and internal brown spots are considered quality defects in both
processing and fresh market industries due to low tolerances for these
symptoms. Commercial contracts may devalue or reject entire fields
if 5-15 percent of tubers are culled due to root-knot nematode damage.
Some export markets reject entire shipments if CRKN is found in a single
potato.