Potato Grower

64 POTATO GROWER | JANUARY 2019 2018 state certified seed potato reports Next Generation Diggin' In Diggin' In SEED REPORTS Colorado Andrew Houser Manager, Colorado Potato Certification Service The 2018 growing season was a unique year as far as weather goes in the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, where most of the state's potatoes are grown. In typical years, winter temperatures can drop to 20 or 30 below zero. This past winter, temperatures rarely dropped below zero. This was in large part due to lack of snowpack in the surrounding mountain ranges. The warm temperatures continued through May and June, resulting in a fast-growing potato crop. Overall yields from the 2018 potato crop have been above average, due in part to the warm weather last summer. Certified seed growers have submitted seed lot samples for the post-harvest test, which were planted on the North Shore A planting crew plants seed potatoes for Colorado's certified post-harvest at Twin Bridge Farms on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. of Oahu, Hawaii, in early November. An official 2018 certified seed directory is posted online at http://potatoes.colostate. edu/potato-certification-service, and an interactive version is available at www. coloradocertifiedpotatogrowers.com. In 2018, Colorado certified seed potato acreage was up overall from 10,093 acres in 2017 to 10,282 acres in 2018 (1,469 of these acres qualify for grower plant- back only). The total accepted certified acreage after summer field inspections was 9,306 acres. Rejections were primarily the result of PVY/mosaic, with a few rejections caused by blackleg and variety mix. Total potato acreage (both certified and commercial) in the San Luis Valley was 51,785 acres, up from 51,648 acres in 2017. The 2018 top five certified potato varieties in Colorado were Russet Norkotah selections, Canela Russet, Centennial Russet, Teton Russet and Lamoka. idaHo Alan Westra Southeast Area Manager Idaho Crop Improvement Association Many Idaho seed growers had a difficult planting season in 2018, with significant delays due to rain. As a result, yield reports are mixed. Some growers are reporting average to good yields, while others are reporting lower than average yields. Quality going into storage is reported as good to excellent. Overall, the 2018 crop had a higher set than normal and appears to have a very nice size profile. Seed health appears to be steady from 2017. The number of seed lots with visually detectable levels of PVY decreased slightly compared to last year. There were no bacterial ring rot detections during field inspections. Seed availability is predicted to be impacted by not only by an overall lower to average yield, but also by a significant reduction in certified seed acreage. At the conclusion of the second round of field inspections, a total of 29,295 acres are eligible for final certification this year. This is down approximately 10 percent from 2017. Excluding proprietary genetics, the 2018 acreage accepted for certification represents a total of 149 varieties, selections and advanced clones. For 2018, the top varieties were Russet Burbank (41 percent), Russet Norkotah (all strains, 18 percent of total), Ranger Russet (12 percent), Clearwater Russet (4 percent), Alturas (3 percent) and Umatilla Russet (3 percent). Seed acreage of Russet Burbank, Russet Norkotah, and Alturas is off approximately 7 percent compared to 2017. Clearwater Russet acreage increased slightly (up 3 percent), while there was a 15 percent reduction in Umatilla Russet acreage compared to 2017. A complete listing of this year's seed potato crop is available in the 2018 Idaho Certified Seed Potato Directory, posted on the Idaho Crop Improvement Association website at www. idahocrop.com. Idaho growers have proposed a change to the nomenclature used to describe seed potato generations. In place of the current system, it is proposed that Idaho seed generations will be designated by field year. This nomenclature is similar to that currently used by a number of other certification programs and is intended to promote standardization and transparency within the seed potato industry. It is expected that this change will be in effect after the 2018 Idaho legislative session. The Colorado Seed Act requires all seed lots imported into Colorado to undergo a post-harvest test or winter grow-out. Also, a PVYN tolerance of 1.0 percent is in place for all seed coming into Colorado. A late blight quarantine is also in effect for all seed coming into the San Luis Valley. For growers planning on shipping any seed into the valley, this test needs to be conducted by a qualified lab prior to shipment. Check the Colorado seed website for testing specifics: http://potatoes.colostate.edu/wp-content/ uploads/2014/02/Late-Blight-Quar-2014.pdf.

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