September/October 2005
Plant Variety Protected
Varieties Growing in Importance
Plant Variety Protected (PVP) varieties are becoming a more important
segment of the Ebe Farms LLC seed potato portfolio, according to owners
Greg and Leonard Ebe.
Roughly 40 percent of the seed potatoes grown on the Ferndale, Wash.
farm now fall under the PVP category.
With more plant breeders now looking for ways to recoup their research
investments, PVP definitely is “the wave of the future,” Greg
feels.
This year, the Ebes propagated PVP varieties for several customers,
including HZPC, a Dutch company, and King-Pak of Bakersfield, Calif.
Among the HZPC PVP varieties are Mondial and Adora, targeted at specific
market niches; the King-Pak PVP variety is Avalanche. King-Pak is
owned by Grimmway farms, a major player in the U.S. carrot industry.
The Search for Niche Markets
The interest in PVP varieties is being fueled by the search for specialty
niche markets capable of providing increased revenue, Greg points out.
Growers and shippers want to get away from growing “just another
commodity.” Their goal is to provide “something a little
different” for their customers.
A good example is a new variety, Rodeo, promoted during an Aug. 4 potato
variety demonstration field day at the Ebe’s Ferndale farm. According
to claims made then, Rodeo has appeal to a broad range of consumers who
find it ideal for boiling, baking, roasting, stewing and mashing.
How
Important Are Potato
Variety Development Programs?
How important is Washington’s participation in the Tri-State Potato
Breeding Project to the future health and vitality of the Columbia Basin
potato industry?
“Critically important,” argue Drs. Mark Pavek and Rick Knowles with
the Washington State University Department of Horticulture, Pullman, Wash. Pavek
is an Assistant Professor and Potato and Vegetable Specialist, while Knowles
is a Professor who runs the department’s Postharvest Physiology and Biochemistry
Lab.
Among the challenges facing potato growers today are growing foreign competition,
changes in consumer preferences, new environmental regulations, loss of plant
protection chemicals, increased input costs, new pest and disease pressures as
well as unpredictable growing conditions, Pavek and Knowles point out. All underscore
the need for research into new and improved potato varieties that grow more efficiently
with less agronomic inputs.
To meet the changing conditions and demands of the potato industry, there is
an ever-present need for continuing potato variety improvement, the researchers
stress, adding that much of the work in the Pacific Northwest is being funded
through the Tri-State Potato Breeding Project. Here, the Washington, Oregon and
Idaho potato industries are working together to come up with new and beneficial
varieties. In addition to the three states, USDA personnel and funding play a
crucial role in the Tri-State project.
Growing Together
By Dale F. Morrison
President and CEO
McCain Foods Limited
I am very excited to be back in the potato business
and the processing industry, in particular. This has always been a
good business, and I
see no reason why it can’t continue to be so. I have never visited
a country anywhere in the world where there isn’t ample opportunity
to grow our industry, and that includes the good old USA.
You have all
heard the saying that success is not a destination but a journey. Well,
together, we are on a journey; success is not some entitlement program
that just keeps giving. We have to work at it. And that is what I want
to talk to you about today—how we work at it.
How do we grow? How do we deal with the not-so-insignificant challenges
that face our industry? How do we stay relevant in a changing world?
Profound Changes
Here in the U.S., we have seen some profound changes over the last five years,
both as growers and processors. Five years ago, our largest customers’ concerns
centered on the industry’s ability to supply. Was there going to be
enough acres grown? Was there going to be enough processing capacity to meet
projected demand? What were we going to do if we ran out of potatoes? Think
of that, only five years ago.
Growers Urged to Turn in
Their Acreage Surveys for 2006
With the current storage potato crop harvest now well underway, the leadership
of the newly formed Washington and Oregon United Potato Growers Cooperative
(WO-UPGC) already is focusing on the task of keeping 2006 potato acreage
in check.
Allen Floyd, chairman of the Washington and Oregon group, notes that
the challenge ahead is to ensure that the 2005 crop is marketed in an
orderly fashion and that growers do not over plant in 2006.
WO-UPGC is affiliated with the national organization, United Potato Growers
Cooperative of America (UPGCA).
A grower survey was mailed recently to all WO-UPGC growers, and they
are urged to return it promptly, Floyd reminds. It asks them to report
fresh-market potato acreage planted in 2004, 2005 and planting intentions
for 2006.
“
In order to come up with an accurate survey and determine if acres need
to come out, we need all growers to participate, and we need accurate
information,” the chairman warns. “As long as growers remember
2004 and what a disaster it was for the fresh-market side, they shouldn’t
have a problem turning in the requested survey information.”
Surviving in Today’s
Competitive Environment
How do you survive in today’s increasingly competitive
potato environment?
To help provide some answers, Bayer CropScience sponsored a symposium, “Growing
Forward,” held Aug. 17-19 in Madison, Wis. Invited were a small group of
agricultural editors and farm-related radio and TV newscasters from across the
United States.
Delivering two major presentations during the symposium was Linda McCashion,
vice president of public relations for the U.S. Potato Board. She addressed the
topics, “International Market and Trade Development” and “Potatoes
in the New Food Pyramid.”
Kim Wahlen, a grower-shipper from Aberdeen, Idaho, addressed the challenges of
remaining competitive in today’s production and marketing environment,
and Scott Welge, crop lead for potatoes and marketing product manager for Admire
and Leverage insecticides, headed a company update on various Bayer CropScience
crop protection products.
On day two of the symposium, guests toured the University of Wisconsin’s
Hancock Research Station in Hancock, Wis. Despite a series of tornadoes that
touched down here and there during the bus commute, Mother Nature cooperated
long enough for researchers on hand to address the group.
Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
To compete in today’s global economy, the U.S. potato industry was reminded
that it needs to get out of the production mentality and become more focused
and adept at marketing.
Speaking during the July 12-16 National Potato Council (NPC) Summer Meeting
in Twin Falls, Idaho, Pat Takasugi pointed to growing world competition from
countries, such as China, and the need to become more aggressively involved
in marketing the crop at home and overseas.
Takasugi is in his ninth year as secretary of the Idaho State Department of
Agriculture.
The Chinese have a business strategy and are executing that strategy, he told
the group. Talk about government involvement in business, in China, the government
is literally involved in every business. The largest dam in the world is currently
being built in China, and many other dams also are under construction. That
means irrigated acres and more bountiful crops.
While the Chinese still have a long way to go in terms of the standard of living
enjoyed in the United States, the country’s leaders have a vision of
where they want to go and are executing that plan, he said. Students go to
school all day and then go back again in the evenings and on weekends.
Here in the U.S., land-grant universities have been geared to production agriculture,
Takasugi said. The focus has been on boosting yields and increasing production
efficiencies. And while not bad, more attention needs to be given to marketing
research, advocacy and other efforts to develop and retain markets.