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Researchers work to help potato growers

By JIM SCHUH
of The Gazette
Many people have driven along Interstate 39 south of Hancock without realizing what takes place on hundreds of acres along the west side of the highway at the Hancock Agricultural Research Station.
People pass the facility at speeds of 65 or 70 miles an hour, and give little or no thought to the work in progress on the spacious fields of the University of Wisconsin farm - one of a handful in the state.
On Tuesday, July 17, about 200 potato growers and others in related fields braved near 90-degree temperatures to spend a few hours on a tour, learning first-hand about the research in progress. They rode hay wagons from site to site to see and hear several UW faculty members explain their research projects and what they hoped to learn from them. The occasion was the annual Potato Field Day which the research station sponsors every July.
One experiment under way is measuring the effect that supplemental calcium has on potato quality and yield. Work that's taken place so far shows that additional calcium reduces bruising in several potato varieties. Researchers say that in terms of consumer satisfaction, bruising can be important since it reduces the shelf life of potatoes.
At the end of the tour, Chris Voigt, manager of field operations for the National Potato Promotion Board, told growers that recently, per capita potato consumption has increased, with the average person now eating about 20 pounds more french fries a year.
Growers need to emulate auto manufacturers, he said, and offer many more choices, just as the carmakers produce hundreds of models buyers can choose from. "That's how to sell more potatoes," he said.
Voigt also noted the board has shifted the focus of its marketing away from media advertising to in-store promotion, adding, "The results so far have been outstanding."
Hancock Research Station superintendent Chuck Kostichka noted there were 93 varieties of potato undergoing field trials this year. He displayed some specialty potatoes, including a "fingerling," a potato with a shape similar to a green bean; one with a rose or pink skin that's yellow inside; a purple-skinned variety with a black interior and even a purple potato with yellow pulp around a purple star.
Kostichka is working with the Tri-County FFA on plans to run taste and cooking tests on the unusual varieties later this year. At this point, no one knows what sort of marketability the special varieties might have.
On the tour, growers learned that over a number of years, researchers have created over a half-million different potato plants, looking for some that will produce "nice, useful, tasty" potatoes, according to Jiming Jiang, a UW researcher. The 12 best varieties have gone to commercial field trials in 12 states this year.
Another project has researchers breeding potato plants for resistance to diseases and pests, such as late blight, verticillium wilt and the Colorado potato beetle.
Growers also heard that last year, studies showed that a split nitrogen application along with fumigation using two products familiar to growers, Quadris and Bravo, produced yields of 467 (100-pound) bags per acre. That's about 100 bags higher than the average acre yields in Wisconsin.
Work is under way to find the most cost-effective way to control early and late blight through a "mix and match" of fungicide treatments, and there are other trials in progress dealing with vine desiccants, potato early dying disease and controlling the Colorado potato beetle.
UW plant pathologist Walt Stevenson told growers that the recent dry weather has helped control this year's late blight outbreaks. He said it was significant that he hasn't seen a single volunteer plant sent to his Madison laboratory with late blight disease. "Growers did an excellent job at control," and added that last year's cull piles posed even more of a threat than volunteer plants.
"We're not out of the woods by any means," Stevenson cautioned. Late blight remains a problem, although it has been confined to an area between Plover and Hancock. "Don't let your guard down," he says, "we have a long way to go."



	Researchers work to help potato growers By JIM SCHUH of The Gazette Many people have driven along Interstate 39 south of Hancock without realizing what takes place on hundreds of acres along the west side of the highway at the Hancock Agricultural Research Station. People pass the facility at speeds of 65 or 70 miles an hour, and give little or no thought to the work in progress on the spacious fields of the University of Wisconsin farm - one of a handful in the state. On Tuesday, July 17, about 200 potato growers and others in related fields braved near 90-degree temperatures to spend a few hours on a tour, learning first-hand about the research in progress. They rode hay wagons from site to site to see and hear several UW faculty members explain their research projects and what they hoped to learn from them. The occasion was the annual Potato Field Day which the research station sponsors every July. One experiment under way is measuring the effect that supplemental calcium has on potato quality and yield. Work that's taken place so far shows that additional calcium reduces bruising in several potato varieties. Researchers say that in terms of consumer satisfaction, bruising can be important since it reduces the shelf life of potatoes. At the end of the tour, Chris Voigt, manager of field operations for the National Potato Promotion Board, told growers that recently, per capita potato consumption has increased, with the average person now eating about 20 pounds more french fries a year. Growers need to emulate auto manufacturers, he said, and offer many more choices, just as the carmakers produce hundreds of models buyers can choose from. "That's how to sell more potatoes," he said. Voigt also noted the board has shifted the focus of its marketing away from media advertising to in-store promotion, adding, "The results so far have been outstanding." Hancock Research Station superintendent Chuck Kostichka noted there were 93 varieties of potato undergoing field trials this year. He displayed some specialty potatoes, including a "fingerling," a potato with a shape similar to a green bean; one with a rose or pink skin that's yellow inside; a purple-skinned variety with a black interior and even a purple potato with yellow pulp around a purple star. Kostichka is working with the Tri-County FFA on plans to run taste and cooking tests on the unusual varieties later this year. At this point, no one knows what sort of marketability the special varieties might have. On the tour, growers learned that over a number of years, researchers have created over a half-million different potato plants, looking for some that will produce "nice, useful, tasty" potatoes, according to Jiming Jiang, a UW researcher. The 12 best varieties have gone to commercial field trials in 12 states this year. Another project has researchers breeding potato plants for resistance to diseases and pests, such as late blight, verticillium wilt and the Colorado potato beetle. Growers also heard that last year, studies showed that a split nitrogen application along with fumigation using two products familiar to growers, Quadris and Bravo, produced yields of 467 (100-pound) bags per acre. That's about 100 bags higher than the average acre yields in Wisconsin. Work is under way to find the most cost-effective way to control early and late blight through a "mix and match" of fungicide treatments, and there are other trials in progress dealing with vine desiccants, potato early dying disease and controlling the Colorado potato beetle. UW plant pathologist Walt Stevenson told growers that the recent dry weather has helped control this year's late blight outbreaks. He said it was significant that he hasn't seen a single volunteer plant sent to his Madison laboratory with late blight disease. "Growers did an excellent job at control," and added that last year's cull piles posed even more of a threat than volunteer plants. "We're not out of the woods by any means," Stevenson cautioned. Late blight remains a problem, although it has been confined to an area between Plover and Hancock. "Don't let your guard down," he says, "we have a long way to go."