Summaries of stories appearing in this issue.

Sept/Oct 2007

Meticulous Detail Paying Off for Qualls Agricultural Laboratory

Visit with Mick Qualls of Qualls Agricultural Laboratory, Inc., near Ephrata, Wash., and you can’t help but be impressed with the order and meticulous attention to detail in everything he does. Tour his facility and you will see for yourself.

Potatoes, wheat, corn and fruit trees -- there are more than 40 crops grown on the 200-acre farm. The two biggest crops, in terms of importance, are potatoes and apples.

Chemical companies from 30 countries around the world come here to work with Qualls and his team. Their purpose is to meet rigid effi cacy and residue testing requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before a new chemical can be registered for use by farmers.

“There are no government funds flowing into this business, yet everything we do in terms of research data collected goes to the government,” the researcher explains. “EPA regulates all pesticide registrations, including their affect on fi sh, ground water, birds, the food we eat and the air we breathe.

“What you have to realize is that we get inspected a lot,” Qualls smiles. “No company is going to bring us work if we are going to embarrass them in front of the EPA. When its inspectors come ¯ and they are here frequently ¯ their job is to look for fraud and shoddy work. They are checking to see if those of us here doing the research are professionals or are a bunch of crooks or clowns. As a research farm, we have to be clean, neat and honest.”

Began Business in 1985
In business since 1985, Qualls spent most of his fi rst 15 years on the job helping chemical companies re-register older chemistries. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the EPA declared that previous effi cacy and residue testing data were outdated and would need to be redone.

Sensing an opportunity to assist in the re-registration process, Qualls left his position with Stauffer Chemical Company and opened his business off of Dodson Road. His is one of about 50 privately held research farms scattered across the United States that assist in evaluating agricultural chemicals for registration or re-registration and release....


Seed Potato Growers Who Love Their Way of Life

With 400 acres of seed potatoes and 17 different varieties, Dale and Jeff Bedlington of Cascade Farms Inc., Lynden, Wash., have plenty to do throughout the year.

The father-and-son combination are entrenched and doing well despite a competitive atmosphere that has witnessed the number of seed growers in Whatcom County shrink from around 47 in the early 1950s to only a handful today.

A quarantined seed production area for more than 50 years, Whatcom County is also a premier dairy farming area. But dairy growers, as their neighbors involved in seed potato production, also have been watching their numbers decline. In the early 1960s, there were around 2,000 dairy operations in the county, but today there are less than 120.

Numbers Declining
In addition to population growth and consolidation within the industry, there is other competition for land, according to Dale and Jeff. The hot market now is blue berries, and berry growers are making it more diffi cult to fi nd rental ground for potatoes. In fact, many dairy farmers and others are adding blue berries to their crop portfolios.

As for seed potatoes, the Bedlingtons say competition for rental property, needed to maintain potato rotations, is much more intense than in the past. Dale and Jeff like to follow a three-year rotation. They plant potatoes one year and then opt out for two years before coming back.

Their major varieties are Chieftain, Pike, Cal White, Russet Norkotah 3, Yukon Gold, Atlantic, Colorado Rose, Golden Sunburst and Russet Norkotah. Also grown are Modoc, Red Thumb, Russian Blue, LaRatte, Austrian Crescent, Annabelle and Kenita.

Close to half of the Bedlington’s market is in Bakersfield, California area. Another large chunk goes to neighboring commercial growers in Skagit County. The Norkotah 3s and a few other varieties are also marketed in the Columbia Basin.

Demand for specialty varieties is growing but not at a pace where growers can plant large acreage. This niche market is small, very small, the father and son say. There has been defi nite growth in the fi ngerling market, but Chieftain, Pike, Cal White, Russet Norkotah 3 and other major fresh market varieties dominate the orders for seed coming in each year. “Some customers want colored varieties ¯ the blues and reds -- to brighten up dishes such as potato salad,” notes Dale. ...

Field Day Reports

Syngenta Announces New Line of Insecticides, Fungicides and Herbicides Coming Soon

Syngenta has a number of new potato insecticides, fungicides and herbicides in the pipeline that may be released as early as next year. So reported Don Drader, David Laird, Coby Long and Chris Clemens, speaking during a special Syngenta Summer Field Day, held July 26 at Qualls Agricultural Laboratory, Inc., Ephrata, Wash.

All are Syngenta representatives. Durivo™ , Voliam Flex™, Voliam Xpress™, Endigo™ and Warrior™ insecticides are currently not registered for use on potatoes but should be available soon, Drader said Durivo™ and Voliam™, enhanced solutions, are targeted for release in 2008. These products are a collaborative effort between Syngenta and Dupont and will be labeled on vegetables, fruits, potatoes, tree nuts and vines, Long said.

Durivo™ 300 SC, a liquid product, is a new systemic soil-applied insecticide controlling all major sucking and chewing insects for up to 30-40 days after planting. Voliam Flexi™ 40WG is a dry formulation and also is effective in controlling all major sucking and chewing pests, he said.

Voliam Xpress™ 150 ZC is a liquid foliar applied formulation that provides quick knockdown and control of a wide range of insecticides with the added benefi t of providing longer lasting control of all major Lepidoptera. Voliam Targo™ 112.5SC also provides long lasting control of Lepidoptera, leaf miners and mites and will be available for use on potatoes, fruit, nuts and vegetable crops.....

Potato Storage - Dealing with Pressure Bruise

You don’t see it at harvest. Only when potatoes come out of storage and are inspected and graded does the presence of pressure bruise really get your attention. You see the awful effect on your bottom line.

In fact, during the frenzy of harvest, pressure bruise could easily be the least concern of the moment ¯ unless, of course, you happen to reflect on the primary cause of pressure bruise : weight loss. And, then you remember: there’s respiration, plus a faint, maybe dim, recollection that somewhere along the way temperature was mentioned as something to be concerned about at harvest regarding weight loss.

Call it a disease. The seriousness of the disease depends on how much attention is paid at harvest to eliminate avoidable weight loss. If the First Rule for financial success with potatoes going into storage is to grow a high-yield crop with excellent quality at harvest, the Second Rule is to remember that storage begins the second-half of your potato program. And, the success of this second-half depends on storage management details beginning the fi rst day the system is turned on.

Although weight loss is specifi cally a quantity loss, it manifests as pressure bruise and related quality losses. The important thing to realize is that although some weight loss is unavoidable, it’s the avoidable weight loss that you can control. And, usually, avoidable weight loss that takes place in storage is far greater than the unavoidable weight
loss caused by respiration.

Here’s the secret: The stage is set for eliminating avoidable weight loss during the fi rst few days potatoes are in storage. The single most important concept to get your arms around is the role temperature plays in eliminating avoidable weight loss. Air has the ability to hold more moisture as it warms up. (You learned that way back in your fi rst
psychrometric chart lesson.)

Consequently, even totally saturated supply air entering a pile of freshly harvested potatoes warmer than the supply air has the ability to soak up moisture from the pile.

The fi rst moisture cooler supply air will absorb is surface moisture from each potato coming into storage at harvest. Next, that very permeable skin on each freshly harvested tuber, without a proper dose of suberin deposited yet, will simply allow moisture from inside the spud to rush into the supply air stream (avoidable weight loss is underway).

From the first moment the system is turned on, use a supply air setpoint only as cool as the coolest pulp in storage, actually only cool enough to keep the top of the pile from warming. That may mean a supply air temperature a degree or two cooler than the coolest pulp in storage.

Hang on to that initial setpoint until cooler potatoes are brought into storage. But, is weight loss that happens by cooling the pile truly avoidable, you ask? It is, if suberization is complete before you begin cooling the pile....

Potato-Industry Session Zeros in on Topics of Interest

Potato growers attending the Potato Association of America Annual Meeting Aug. 14 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, were treated to a half-day special potato-industry session.
Topics ranged from a seed piece size and spacing study to a photo quiz aimed at helping growers better identify insects associated with tubers.

Bill Bohl, with the University of Idaho (U of I), reported on the effects of varying seed piece size and spacing on yield and size distribution of Russet Norkotah, Ranger Russet and Alturas. One and onehalf, 2.25 and 3-ounce seed pieces were tested at 8-, 12- and 16-inch spacings – all seed piece sizes at each spacing.

All of the varieties responded “pretty much the same,” Bohl said, with 3-inch seed pieces the top performers. The wider the spacing, the larger the tubers produced.

While the study produced predictable results using various seed sizes and spacings, most growers plant varying seed sizes due to the equipment used to cut the seed. This makes predicting the outcome more diffi cult, Bohl acknowledged.

Storage Characteristics of Premier Russet
Tina Brandt of the U of I reported on the storage characteristics of Premier Russet (A93157-6LS), released in 2006 in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The variety is low in sugar content, and seed acreage is growing in Idaho.

The variety was evaluated at 42, 45 and 48ºF and found to do better at 42ºF. Premier Russet has shorter dormancy and higher bruising and decay rates than Russet Burbank. The variety has great taste and a very high specifi c gravity (almost too high, according to some), although researchers feel that can be managed.