Summaries of stories appearing in this issue.

September/October 2006

For a complimentary copy of this issue, please contact: Mike Stoker at 1-800-900-2452 To subscribe, click here.

World Potato Congress Update

An evening of food and entertainment will officially kick off the Sixth World Potato Congress on Monday, Aug. 21, in Boise, Idaho. The all-American picnic takes place at Julia Davis Park on the banks of the scenic Boise River.

Larry Hlobik, CEO of J.R. Simplot Company, will join Ron Offutt, founder and CEO of R.D. Offutt Company, to welcome international and domestic potato industry executives, researchers and grower to Boise and to the first World Potato Congress held in the United States.

The Potato Congress begins on Sunday, Aug. 20, with registration and continues through Saturday, Aug. 26. The World Potato COngress 2006 Farm Show, held in conjunction with the Congress, begins on Thursday, Aug. 24, and winds up Saturday, Aug. 26, in Wilder, Idaho.

Impact of the Columbia Basin Potato Purple Top Phytoplasma on Potato Tuber Processing Quality

Recent outbreaks of purple top disease experienced by growers int he Columbia Basin of Washington and Oregon have caused significant yield losses. This disease was found to be caused by the Columbia Basin potato purple top phytoplasma, also known as beet leafhopper transmitted virescence agent (BLTVA), and spread in the Columbia Basin by the beet leafhopper.

Early plant decline, one of the disease symptoms, neagatively affects potato yield. In addition to yield loss caused by this disease, it is suspected that this phytoplasma has all along been contributing to the increasing loss of potato tuber quality in the affected areas. Experiements were initiated by scientists at the USDA-ARS Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory at Wapato, Wash., in collaboration with scientists at the USDA-ARS, Prosser, Wash., and the potato industry, to investigate the issue.

Basic Stuff: A Frank Talk About Supply Air and Potato Storage Management

By Bob Hesse

Potato storage supply air recommendations today vary considerably among potato-growing regions around the world. This presentation is a frank talk about how significantly different supply airflow recommendations can affect potatoes in storage. A typical recommendation in the United States is 20 CFM per ton of potatoes. A significantly higher airflower of 100 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of potatoes (83.3 CFM/Ton), for example, is recommended by some folks in Europe.

When it comes right down to it, whether potato harvest is in American Falls or Amsterdam, Boise or Britan, Pasco or Prague, Twin Falls or Tasmania, the requiements for optimum storage management of healthy ptoatoes are based on two primary categories:

1. They physiological properties of the poatoes to be stored; and
2. The basic physical and mechanical properties of air and air movement through the pile.

Package Mixes Providing Popular

A number of exciting, new pesticides options for potatoes are working their way through the registration process, according to Alan Schreiber, who hdeas the Agriculture Development Group in Eltopia, Wash.

"There are lots of products coming," the researcher told those attending the Washington Potato Pest Management Field Day Aug. 2 at the company's research testing facility. "In all of my years in the business, I've never seen so many in the registration pipeline at one time."

Package Mixes the New Fad
Package mixes for potato insect control appear to be the new fad, according to Schreiber.

"We are all familiar with Leverage®, a popular package mix containing cyfluthrin (Baythroid®) and imidacloprid (Pravado®)," he said. "We are screening no less than six potential package mixes for potatoes, and more are coming."