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52 POTATO GROWER | JANUARY 2022 DIGGIN' IN SEED REPORT | Industry Report A coast-to-coast update on the North American seed potato industry Reap What You Sow Across North America, seed potato growers and certification specialists are hard at work year- round to help ensure a clean, safe supply of high-quality seed for the potato industry. From coast to coast—and beyond, in some cases—their work pays major dividends for the entire potato supply chain. Following are reports from several key certification programs on the 2021 seed potato crop. CALIFORNIA Alexander B. Mkandawire Seed Certification Representative California Crop Improvement Association California's major production zones are the Central Valley and the San Joaquin Valley. The state generally received less than 50% of the total average rainfall in the 2020-21 crop season. The Central Valley relied heavily on aquifers as a source of water, although this source is being greatly depleted. The San Joaquin Valley production zone is in the delta region with a lot of water from the Sacramento River. About 40% of certified seed potato production was in the San Joaquin County. Planting of certified fields started in Kern County near Bakersfield in the Central Valley on Dec. 17, 2020, with 60-degree temperatures, and ended in the San Joaquin Valley near Stockton on July 28 in 80-degree weather. Field inspections started on April 7 in Bakersfield and ended on Sept. 22 in Stockton, spanning a period of about six months. California's seed production is much smaller compared to other seed potato-producing states. In 2021 crop season, the certification program had a total of 680 acres, representing a decrease of 10% from the previous year. One seed grower explained the reason for the decrease as a reduced overseas demand for potatoes, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, one California grower produced "true" potato seed on the Central Coast. We are working with other certification programs on seed standards for this production system. The 2021 California potato certified seed directory may be obtained at ccia.ucdavis.edu/application- information/certified-potato-directory. Apart from a proprietary variety, the varieties with the most certified acres grown were Granola, Sifra, Soprano, CalWhite, Red LaSoda, Alegria and Cristina, in that order. One of the major problems one of our largest growers had this year was in the transportation sector. Shipping seed potatoes faced port authority ship and warehouse congestions for international shipments, as well as shortages and higher costs of refrigerated trucks for shipping within the country. True potato seed production field near Oceano on the Central Coast of California