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WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 63 Mid season 2016 potato crop near Rexburg, Idaho IDAHO Alan Westra Southeast Area Manager Idaho Crop Improvement Association At the conclusion of the second round of field inspections, a total of 32,554 Idaho seed potato acres were accepted for certification in 2016, an increase of 1.7 percent from 2015. Excluding proprietary genetics, this acreage represents a total of 193 varieties, selections and advanced clones. The top varieties for 2016 are: 1. Russet Burbank . . . . . . . . . . . 40 percent of total acreage 2. Russet Norkotah (all strains) . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 percent 3. Ranger Russet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 percent 4. Alturas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 percent The acreages of each of these varieties is essentially unchanged from last year. A complete listing of this year's seed potato crop is available in the 2016 Idaho Certified Seed Potato Directory, posted at www.idahocrop.com. Planting this year began slightly earlier than normal for many seed growers, with only minor delays due to weather. The earlier planting of the crop somewhat offset the effects of an atypically hot and dry growing season. Seed health appears to be improved in the 2016 crop, with fewer incidences of PVY and zero BRR detections during field inspections. At the time of writing, some growers have reported excellent yields, while others are indicating only average yields. To date, quality going into storage is reported as being good to excellent. Despite the slight increase in acreage, the summer heat is expected to impact grade-out on some seed lots; as a result, seed availability is predicted to be essentially unchanged from 2015. Of major concern for the seed industry are reports of negative impact on seed quality due to Dickeya and/or Pectobacterium. Idaho seed standards already include testing requirements for introductory materials and tolerances for blackleg during field inspections, and these requirements generally meet or exceed those of other certification programs. Despite increased vigilance on the part of ICIA inspectors, some blackleg was observed in the 2016 crop, though relatively little. Less than 2 percent of lots exhibited any measurable amount of blackleg, and incidence in the affected seed lots tended to be very low, with most exhibiting only a trace of the disease. Despite the low incidence of blackleg in this season's crop, ICIA is actively monitoring this situation in order to provide continued assurance of the quality of Idaho certified seed potatoes.