Harvest operations in Alberta are virtually complete for 2024, the province’s crop report said. Combining advanced three points to 99 per cent finished as of Oct. 22 as well as being three points above the five-year average.
Tag Archives Potatoes
Alberta harvest wraps up
New chipping varieties catch eyes of potato producers
New spud varieties crossing finish line to commercial production
New chipping potato varieties are attracting attention and Vander Zaag's SP327 has reached commercial production.
Making potatoes friendly to soil health
Soil health tactics are not out of reach for the spud sector
Potatoes are a high-value crop and one of the world’s most important dietary staples. But when it comes to sustainability, they’ve got a hurdle to clear because there’s no escaping some level of soil disturbance when growing and harvesting. Why it matters: Soil health and minimized soil disturbance are major pillars in the push toward
Early bird may dodge verticillium woes in potatoes
Pushing a problem field to the front of the planting queue may help limit infection
Verticillium wilt is a problem for a lot of crops in Manitoba, including canola, sunflowers and alfalfa. In potatoes, the fungus Verticillium dahlia is the main cause of potato early die complex. In a 2021 interview with the Co-operator, Mario Tenuta, University of Manitoba soil scientist and main investigator with the Canadian Potato Early Dying Network, suggested the condition
The ugly truth of tuber trauma
Field stresses may mean less than pretty potatoes come fall
Life can be tough on a tuber. Lots of things can cause blemishes or otherwise diminish the visual quality of a potato. It could be herbicide injury, North Dakota State University plant pathologist Andy Robinson said. Or the tubers might have been jostled by harvest equipment. Maybe it’s just a consequence of field conditions. “Lots
Setting up fertigation in potato crops for success
Manitoba farmers show how they’ve made the irrigation-fertilization marriage work
Potato producer Sheldon Wiebe, who farms near MacGregor, can wax poetic about how production has evolved on his operation, J.P. Wiebe Ltd., since its inception in the mid 1960s. Like other Manitoba potato farmers, the introduction of irrigation is part of that story, but today the practice is about more than just water. Today, the
Is the picture of biologicals clearing?
Understanding what the industry offers is a big part of finding an answer
The interest in biologicals is growing quickly, including in the potato sector. For the National Potato Guide, we asked representatives of two companies involved in the sector, Can Grow Crop Solutions and Vive Crop Protection (with Pro Farm), for their perspectives on where the potato sector is heading with biologicals. The biologicals sector can be
Potato growers have another option against verticillium wilt
Registration of a new mustard hybrid could also help combat nematodes
In the past few years, growers in the horticulture sector have had to cope with government deregistration of several active ingredients, leaving many to try different measures and concepts to deal with challenges of diseases and insect pests. Now comes word of a return to yesterday, of sorts, employing a newly registered male sterile mustard
First Living Lab focused on potatoes
Federal funding program helped look at cover crop effects and reducing tillage in potatoes
The first Living Lab – Atlantic program was heavily focused on potato research and has led to an increase in the integration of cover crops into potato growing areas in Prince Edward Island. The Living Lab was led by the East Prince Agri-Environment Association (EPAA), with the involvement of the Prince Edward Island (PEI) Potato
Revolutionary technology shows promise in potatoes
The potential for spray-induced gene silencing seems extraordinary, but it could help with disease control in potatoes
In February 2022, an email was circulated by Dr. Eugenia Banks of the Ontario Potato Board, about a new method for control of late blight in potatoes, called spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS). The technology has its origins in research by Dr. Aline Koch and a team of German researchers for the control of Fusarium head blight