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Latest Edition
(July/August 2008)
Celebrating the Culture of Potatoes
Peru’s ambassador to Britain Ricardo Luna welcomed visitors to a preview of The Odyssey of the Potato exhibition at London’s Hay’s Wharf complex just upstream from Tower Bridge. The travelling exhibition was put together by the International Potato Center with its headquarters in Lima.
‘The exhibition is essentially aimed at focusing attention on the nature of the potato as a food source and the journey that it has taken from the time it was discovered by the Spaniards when they came to Peru and the Andean region,’ he told Potato Review. ‘You will find similar events taking place in the rest of Europe and also in Asia, so it’s a worldwide effort.’
While stressing the cultural importance of the potato to the people of his native land, the ambassador clearly felt that its full potential as a major food crop has yet to be fully realised in parts of the developing world. ‘The International Year of the Potato in 2008 seems to have coincided with a serious food security crisis,’ he observed, ‘so this may actually have a lasting effect.’
Former chairman of the IPC, Lincolnshire farmer Jim Godfrey, believes that the current UN initiative is having a real impact in the developing world and in countries such as South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and China which have all been putting on special events this year.
‘In Britain we have been a little bit slow off the mark,’ he observed, ‘though the Potato Council has launched its schools challenge which is a fantastic outreach project. ‘People are often rather stunned when they learn that potatoes are actually the second biggest food crop in the UK and Europe,’ said Mr Godfrey. ‘And there is now a realisation from the global community that the crop is important, producing about four times the amount of food per acre as cereals.‘Funding is always an issue but the International Potato Center is getting good support from donors because we are doing work that is seen to be beneficial to the various communities we are helping around the world.
One big advantage for subsistence agriculture is that you can use potatoes before they mature – if a cereal crop does not reach harvest, you will have nothing to eat – but when we start to investigate where the major crop losses are, we see, for example, that there are various parts of the world where a pest called potato tuber moth eats more potatoes than the people.
‘CIP has 20 or so varieties which have been genetically modified to be resistant to tuber moth – the question we have to ask ourselves is do we have the moral right not to release these potatoes to help such communities? We are working with the regulatory bodies in several countries to ensure that they have safe systems for the control and monitoring of genetically modified crops,’ he explained. ‘When we are satisfied with those systems we would then need to have some form of stewardship to make sure there could be no misuse after their introduction.
Trials assess alternatives for burn-off
Researchers at CUF began investigating acid alternatives in 1998 but the main body of work was conducted between 2004 and 2006 in experiments funded by the desiccant manufacturers. The project signalled a change in approach with a move towards split-dose applications which have enabled numerous combinations of chemical and mechanical treatments to be tried out.
‘There are now lots of different ways of achieving effective desiccation of a large and vigorous canopy without acid,’ concluded Dr David Firman of CUF. ‘Virtually all combinations achieved complete burn-down in three weeks, like acid, and without re-growth. Initial skin set was comparably rapid following flailing but less so where the canopy was destroyed more slowly. However, complete skin set was generally achieved within three to four weeks of initial treatment.’
Looking at tuber quality, Dr Firman reported a small increase in vascular browning with almost all the alternative treatments. " ‘It seems that whatever we do has some effect, but it is slight and rarely significant enough to affect marketability. In the past, vascular browning problems have been linked to inappropriate diquat use, at high rate in very dry conditions. But with today’s knowledge you’d really have to go out of your way to create a problem.’
Dr Firman commented: ‘Two sprays of higher rate Reglone (3 or 4 litres/ha) at T1 followed by Harvest (3 litres/ha) at T2 have proved effective under most conditions. On occasions, where lower rate Reglone (1 to 2 litres/ha) was used at T1 it has been less effective. Spotlight has a role to play too as a T2 to complete burn-down but it needs a good T1 foundation – Harvest or higher rate Reglone.’
‘Flail and spray’ performed well in CUF’s experiments and Dr Firman feels it adds a useful option for tackling canopies in early development. "All three chemicals seem to work well with it, but in practice growers occasionally encounter re-growth problems, particularly with salad or seed crops. To minimise this, flailing needs to leave a short stem, no longer than 15cm, and ensure complete trash removal so the spray’s got a good, clear target to work on.’
He concludes that there is no single template. Variety and canopy size and stage of development have to be considered before choosing which technique to deploy on a particular crop. Although all three products require more management input, they render acid no longer essential for UK potato production. He maintains that there are still issues which warrant further scrutiny, such as the influence of environmental conditions and stage of crop development on the performance of flail and spray operations and T1 sprays.
Three years ago JSR Farms took the decision to scale back acid use. Technical director Philip Huxtable reckons the alternatives are now proven. JSR operates a LEAF dem-onstration farm so Mr Huxtable was keen to explore the alternatives in line with Integrated Farm Management (IFM) principles. He admits to feeling apprehensive at first but with three years experience under his belt he is more confident.
"Acid did such a fast and thorough job and we were concerned about how the alternatives would cope. The key thing we’ve learnt is that you can’t be prescriptive. You have to look at the crop on the day and consider the state of its canopy and soil moisture conditions. Then you can pick the right combination from the toolbox of three chemicals and flailing, on its own or as flail and spray.’
‘‘We’ve now mastered the alternative techniques,’ he concludes. ‘And we’re getting just as good results in speed and completeness of desiccation. This has come with a welcome cost saving of 30– 40% and brought the operation within our own control.’
Inca trial brings in potato tourists
Potato cropping would not normally be singled out as a target for eco-tourism but the people of the Andes near Cusco in Peru could be about to capitalise on a long and colourful association with wild and cultivated potato species which goes back at least 7,000 years.
Local farmers and scientists from the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima have begun a collaboration which aims to improve the quality of seed stocks while also bringing in tourist dollars to an area which is otherwise heavily reliant on subsistence agriculture.
A highland region covering some 15,000 hectares not far from Machu Picchu, the lost city which has come to represent the high point of the ancient Inca civilisation, has been designated an ‘Indigenous Biocultur-al Heritage Area’.
Six communities (Sacaca, Chawa-ytire, Kuyo Grande, Pampallaqta, Paru Paru and Amaru) which make up the Parque de la Papa (potato park) are being supplied with clean seed in a programme aimed at ‘repatriating’ traditional varieties.
As reported in the May edition of Potato Review, Lincolnshire packer Branston Ltd put up £9,000 to provide polytunnels for the production of disease-free minitubers which will be distributed to potato park growers. Branston’s field director David Nelson travelled to Cusco this year to address a CIP conference P and to check on the progress which has been made since the park was set up.
What he saw when he got there – potato plants growing on precipitous slopes, 3500 metres or more above sea level, with sparse soil cover and even less in the way of irrigation – had little in common with his experience of large-scale commercial production at home in Lincolnshire.
"The local varieties are obviously indigenous and some have probably been grown for hundreds of years so they often carry high levels of virus and there was a need for basic micropropagation facilities and simple screen tunnels in which to grow the microplants and produce minitubers. Branston have provided six screen houses, one for each community."
‘As field director at Branston, David felt this was an appropriate gesture as part of their contribution to the International Year of the Potato. "The crop as we know it today owes its origins to the ingenuity of Peruvian farmers over thousand years in areas such as the potato park. With the involvement of CIP, we were confident that it would be managed effectively and we look forward to the facilities being constructed and put into operation."
"‘Improving seed health and local supply are the keys to the project and the main point of difference between potatoes and other staple crops which have much lower seed rates and transport costs. Other potato farming communities in Peru are very keen to see how the project will work. This is just one group of communities in one valley, there are probably another 50 similar locations which could benefit.’
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