executive director of the
Potato Variety Manage-
ment Institute, which works
with grower organizations
and university programs to
develop and promote new
varieties of potatoes in the
Pacific Northwest. This is the
kind of question that keeps
her up at night. She has a
real passion for variety devel-
opment, but understands the
realities of the industry.
"Growing new varieties is
like driving a Formula 1 race
car," she says. "Many of the
newer varieties are capable
of high performance and can
result in superior yields, often
with fewer inputs. The catch
is that they require a lot of
attention to detail. Growing
varieties like Russet Bur-
bank and Russet Norkotah
are simple in comparison,
because growers have many
years of experience with
them."
The Macy family has been
farming seed potatoes in
central Oregon for almost 50
years. In that time, they have
taken on the task of growing
new PVMI varieties several
times.
"We've tried a lot of variet-
ies," says Mike Macy, "trying
to get some of them going in
the industry. We've liked a lot
of them, but it's easy to get
burned if a processor ends
up not approving a variety.
As seed growers, it's a risk
to stick our necks out and
produce something new. You
might put years into it, only
to have the industry change
its mind and leave you hold-
ing the bag."
Richard Macy echoes
Debons's belief that hesita-
tion to adopt new varieties is
WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 21
Why apparently better varieties are available,
but not widely accepted. Story and photos by Tyrell Marchant
