Last week at the Lethbridge Research Centre, growers and industry officials were able to see first hand the latest advances in the industry, as researchers unveiled 15 new potato varieties. Of the 15 for release, three were of particular interest to local producers – two chipping varieties and one ideal for french-fry production.
“A lot of our acreage is dominated by processing potatoes,” said Michelle Konschuh, a potato research scientist with Alberta Agriculture, who is based out of Brooks. "In Western Canada, the processing industry is 80 per cent of the market,” added Larry Kawchuk, a plant pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).
The potato-chip selections unveiled by AAFC at the potato selection release open house included varieties which excited researchers with their potential. “Among the strong features of AR2014-02 chip selection are high-yield, uniform tubers, very low tuber defects and a high specific gravity (i.e. solids content) that means less oil absorption and crispier chips,” said Benoit Bizimungu, an AAFC potato breeder out of Fredericton, N.B., whose office also participated in the launch event via a satellite feed. “The low incidence of tubers defects makes it superior to Atlantic, the chipping industry standard in North America.”
He went on to detail the advantages of the other new chipping variety. “The other chip selection, AR2014-03, does well in cold (7 Celsius) storage and produce a nice colour after reconditioning at a higher temperature. One of the most important problems in the potato chip industry is the maintenance of desirable colour of chips throughout the year. This is important because chipping potatoes are harvested in fall, but may not be chipped until the following spring.”
A french-fry specific variety (AR2014-01) was also showed off for growers and industry representatives. “In addition to its good french fry quality, it out-yielded shepody, the second most popular french fry variety (after russet burbank), in southern Alberta by approximately 18 per cent in field trials conducted in 2013,” said Bizimungu. It also has more consistent specific gravity (an indicator of solids content), an important factor in determining the yield of french fry yield produced from any given quantity of potatoes, and gives a mealy culinary texture that is preferred for manufacture of frozen french fries.”
But according to Konschuh, the development of the new varieties and statistics produced from trials is only one step of the process. The challenge now, and part of the goal of Wednesday’s event, is to encourage growers to experiment with them. “We need to attract people to take these varieties on,” said Konschuh, who added processors also need to be convinced. “This is industry’s first look at the varieties It’s their opportunity to evaluate them.”
That is all part of the process of getting new potato varieties to hit the mainstream.
“We have at least five or six firms here that have taken part in the accelerated-release program,” said Konschuh, who added Alberta Agriculture and the research centre have a large role to play as well, in terms of collecting data on the varieties and growing test plots to determine how they perform in southern Alberta.
She said varieties that perform well in trials in Prince Edward Island, for instance, may not work well here, and noted producers are often not equipped to run trials on new varieties. “The risk is they won’t evaluate them well or have the time and resources to examine those small-plot trials.”
With that in mind, the research centre conducts a lot of that work for the growers, a fact driven home by researchers at the launch event.
