Teagasc Open Day - Potato 08 ‘The Quest for Quality’

An open day for commercial potato producers is taking place at the Teagasc Crops Research Centre at Oak Park, Carlow today Tuesday, 30 September. This event, Potato 08 ‘The Quest for Quality‘ is being held as part of the activities organised to mark 2008 as the International Year of the Potato.

Producers are adapting growing methods in response to the changing demands of consumers. Customers are increasingly choosing unblemished, washed potatoes presented for sale in small bags. The challenge for potato growers is to produce ‘the perfect potato’, in terms of its taste and appearance. This event offers practical advice on producing quality potatoes for all markets. Teagasc experts are guiding growers through the steps to improve the quality of potatoes.

The Teagasc potato breeding programme at Oak Park is continuously striving to breed new high quality varieties. Denis Griffin, Teagasc potato breeder said; “The breeding programme has made significant progress to meet the future needs of the consumer. Customers are seeking potatoes produced using less pesticide and new varieties with enhanced disease resistance and increased nutrient use efficiency are being produced. The newer potato varieties bred in Oak Park such as Romeo and Orla combine superior eating quality and disease resistance, providing a win-win situation.“

The last two years were high blight pressure years and all potato growers struggled to control this disease. Leslie Dowley, Teagasc researcher said that the control of blight in the future will be more difficult for two reasons. Firstly, changes in blight population may reduce the efficacy of existing control products and varieties. Secondly, changes in the legislation by the European Commission will reduce the range of products available to control blight. A new research project funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will monitor the changes in the population of blight over coming years with a view to improving disease control strategies and variety resistance.

At the Open Day, the Teagasc Potato Advisory Service is providing technical advice for growers. Matt Molloy, specialist potato advisor based in Drogheda said; ”This has been a difficult year for all growers and many problems are lurking in crops still to be harvested. Storage problems will be an inevitable consequence of the prolonged wet weather and growers need to be especially careful grading potatoes before storage this year. My colleagues in the Teagasc potato advisory service are available in the main potato growing counties to help growers with difficulties this Autumn.“