When the 2020 re-evaluation of herbicide Linuron dropped the application rate for potatoes, growers thought they would be off the hook until 2023, when the new rate comes into effect. However, the registrant ran into regulatory issues after sourcing a technical active ingredient from a new provider. That pushed back production, causing supply issues. “It […] Read more
Tag Archives potatoes — page 5
Living without Linuron in the tank
Growers will have to alter practices and mix and match other products to control weeds
Mainland U.S. moving to resume P.E.I. potato imports
P.E.I. growers get 'certainty' for spring planting, Bibeau says
Exports of fresh potatoes from Prince Edward Island to the mainland U.S. are expected to resume “soon” as U.S. officials move to put new rules in place for such shipments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said Thursday that Canada “is expected to soon resume exporting (P.E.I.) table stock […] Read more
P.E.I. potato exports cleared for Puerto Rico
U.S. territory has no commercial potato production
A U.S. territory with an appetite for Canadian potatoes and no commercial potato production to speak of will be able to resume imports of table stock potatoes from Prince Edward Island starting Wednesday. The resumption of exports to Puerto Rico, announced Tuesday, is a spot of good news for the province’s potato sector. Export certificates […] Read more
Canada hopeful for P.E.I. table potato trade in weeks to Puerto Rico, U.S. mainland
Reuters — Canada is hopeful of resuming shipments of table potatoes from the province of Prince Edward Island to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in two weeks, and to the U.S. mainland in the weeks following that, partially resolving a trade dispute, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said. Bibeau met in Washington on Thursday with […] Read more
‘Expedited’ potato wart survey helps make case for P.E.I., CFIA says
National survey done 'ahead of schedule'
A national survey finding no potato wart in any “unregulated” Canadian fields should offer the reassurance on Prince Edward Island potatoes that trading partners such as the U.S. are now looking for, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says. CFIA on Thursday reported it has completed this fall’s national survey for the soil-borne fungal potato disease […] Read more
Feds put up funds toward managing P.E.I. potato surplus
Ottawa budgets $28 million for distribution and disposal
Prince Edward Island potatoes locked out of the U.S. export market will go either to food banks or “environmentally-sound” disposal with new federal funding. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced $28 million “to support the diversion of surplus potatoes, including help to redirect surplus potatoes to organizations addressing food insecurity and support for […] Read more
Treatment could manage chipping potato size
Gibberellic Acid could be a solution to using potato varieties too large for chipping
Potato growers know that size, consistency and uniformity matter to the bottom line and non-marketable potatoes at harvest can chip away at profitability. Take the Waneta potato; a good chipper variety appreciated by growers but panned by some processors due to its larger size. In 2020, Mark VanOostrum, supply manager at WD Potato Limited, along […] Read more
Herbicide injury rising in potato fields
Knowledge and preventative management can mitigate most instances
The source of potato herbicide injury isn’t always easy to pin down, especially when the usual suspects aren’t the guilty ones. During a recent Ontario Potato Board webinar, Andy Robinson, extension potato agronomist at North Dakota State University/University of Minnesota (NDSU/UMN,) said pinpointing how herbicides came into contact with a plant is often a challenge […] Read more
Fall and full-season cover crops show promise in potato trials
Some varieties have shown yield increases and erosion control
Cover crop trials in Prince Edward Island potato fields are yielding promising results. Over the last two years, Ryan Barrett, research and agronomy specialist, Prince Edward Island Potato Board, has run fall-seeded and full-season cover crop trials to assess if there are an overall soil and potato harvest benefit. Why it matters: An estimated 80 […] Read more
Direct-seeded potatoes show no harvest hit
Both yield and quality were comparable in an initial trial comparison of traditional spring tillage and direct seeding
The amount and quality of the potatoes coming off Chad Berry’s field last fall weren’t that much different from one side to the other, but one half came with a lot less tillage. Results are in from the 2020 field-scale trial, which featured a side-by-side comparison of conventional spring tillage and direct-seeded potatoes. Why it […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
