Title: Organic Certified Seed Potato Production in the Mid-West
Co-PIs: Amy Charkowski and Ruth Genger, University of Wisconsin-Madison Project Summary
The objectives of this project are to:
Organic farming is an important industry in Wisconsin, which ranks third nationally in the value of commodities sold and fourth in number of organic farms, with over 560 in operation (USDA NASS). Potatoes are the most important non-grain food crop, but organic potato production in Wisconsin lags far behind conventional production. For example, although Wisconsin produces a large amount of potatoes, ranking third nationally in value of potatoes produced (USDA NASS); Wisconsin produces only 2% of the organic potatoes grown nationally (Economic Research Service, USDA). Over 94% of organically-grown potatoes are produced in Western states, with California, Colorado, Washington, and Idaho producing over 90% of organic potatoes grown in the United States (Economic Research Service, USDA). Thus, there is a regional shortage of locally produced organic potatoes.
There is also currently a regional shortage of high quality seed potatoes of varieties commonly grown by organic farmers and this is one of the main reasons organic potato production is relatively low in the Mid-West. One way a grower can insure purchase of high quality seed potatoes is through buying certified seed potatoes. Importantly, potatoes can be both “certified seed potatoes,” meaning that they have been inspected and found to have a low incidence of disease, and “certified organic potatoes,” meaning that they were grown using organic methods. Throughout this proposal, we use “certified” to mean certified seed potatoes and unless stated otherwise, all potatoes grown in on-farm trials will be grown organically. The importance of certified seed is recognized throughout the potato industry and organic growers who plant certified seed potatoes are likely to have less disease pressure, and therefore higher and more reliable yields.
In Wisconsin, there is only one organic farmer growing certified seed potatoes that are also organically certified. This farm has small acreage and is far from being able to supply the local demand. In addition, there is no local source for some of the specialty varieties favored by organic potato growers, such as fingerlings. Therefore, the first goal of this proposal is to determine if local organic potato growers can meet the disease tolerances required for certified seed potatoes. The second goal of this proposal is to develop training tools and literature for organic potato growers on how to become certified seed potato growers and on how to use disease testing to monitor seed potato quality and potato health throughout the growing season.
This material is based upon work supported by the Organic Farming Research Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OFRF.