Fresh Chip Project 2019 - 2022
A co-developed project by Teagasc, Irish Farmers Association and Bord Bia.
The overall purpose of this program is to increase the level of information to existing growers and ultimately increase the quantity of suitable potatoes grown for the fresh chip market in Ireland. This involved equipping the industry with the necessary skills and knowledge to sustainably develop their potato enterprises.
Objective
The program has a number of objectives;
- Improve existing growers knowledge in all areas (agronomy/storage) of growing salad potatoes
- Increase the total quantity of fresh chip varieties grown in Ireland and to partially substitute imports coming into Ireland
- Grow the market for indigenously grown fresh chip potatoes to keep pace with increased production
- Increase the number of growers who may wish to diversify into growing fresh chip potatoes
- Upskill the industry on storage of fresh chip potatoes after the loss of CIPC
- Leave a legacy of information for growers to use after the program is finished
- Workshop 1 (Existing grower exploratory meeting August 2018)
- Outcomes;
- Established knowledge gaps in fresh chip production
- Storage options post CIPC
- Marketing of product
- Grower Workshop 1; (Oak Park March 2019)
- Factors affecting fry quality
- Variety
- Nutrition
- Storage
- Seed management
- Crop nutrition
- Grower workshop 2 (On farm crop walk July 2019)
- deciding when to desiccate,
- desiccation options,
- store preparation
- preparing the crop for store
- Workshop 3 (On farm walk December 2019)
- Managing crop in store
- Common mistakes in ambient store
- Disease management in ambient stores
- Quality management
- Fry sampling
- Bruise sampling & assessment
- Workshop 4 (Zoom call November 2019)
- Sprout management
- Experiences of using DMN in USA
- Using DMN in Irish stores
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuX7F2053d4