Idaho Falls, Idaho
June 12, 2006
Consumer interest in organic potatoes is driving an
innovative 55-acre
University of Idaho research trial that will examine a
seven-year all-organic crop rotation near Blackfoot.
"I feel that our pesticides
are pretty effective and pretty safe, but the market for
organic potatoes is growing," says Bryan Hopkins, UI potato
cropping systems specialist. "I'm not saying that this is
the only way to go, but it's an opportunity for our growers
to diversify and it's a demand that probably needs to be met
if Idaho growers are going to remain competitive."
In the Magic Valley, the
university is also readying an 11-acre field near Kimberly
for organic trials that should begin next year. Weed
scientist Don Morishita expects the crop rotation to include
potatoes, dry beans, small grains and alfalfa or corn. "We
hope that we can help organic growers," he says. "People
have been asking about it."
In Boise, UI Extension
pesticide program coordinator Ronda Hirnyck is leading the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's first pest-management
strategic plan for organic potato production. As she
collects data from Pacific Northwest organic potato
producers, agricultural scientists and industry
representatives regarding which pest problems should be the
highest priorities for research dollars, Hirnyck says,
"We're breaking ground."
At Blackfoot, Hopkins has
divided the 55-acre field into seven sub-fields that will be
planted to an identical sequence of five different crops for
the next seven years, beginning this year. Each rotation
will include three years of alfalfa, one year of potatoes,
one year of barley or sweet corn, one year of beans or peas
and one year of such high-value vegetable crops as broccoli,
pumpkin, squash and cucumbers. Evaluating the effects of the
multi-year rotation as a whole is crucial, Hopkins says, not
only for its impacts on insects, diseases, weeds and other
tricky-to-control pests in organic systems but for its
contributions to growers' bottom lines.
To break pest cycles, potatoes
can't be grown as frequently in organic fields as in
conventional fields. To compensate economically, growers
must snare lucrative markets for the rotation's vegetable
crops. "It's not enough to just rotate with high-quality
alfalfa and grains," Hopkins says.
Hopkins will evaluate the
ability of drip irrigation and copper sulfate to reduce
foliar diseases in organic rotations and the effectiveness
of organic-approved pesticides in reducing pest damage. He
notes that Idaho's colder, shorter growing season should
reduce pest pressure, making it easier for Gem State organic
producers to compete with those in warmer climates.
He is also measuring the
impacts of dairy compost donated by Idaho Organics and of
organic nitrogen donated by Westbridge and anticipates
"gleaning a lot of data" about the organic rotation's
contributions to soil health.
But for weed control, "there's
just no easy answer," he says. "I'm almost worrying myself
sick about how we're going to deal with these weeds."
Machine cultivation, hand weeding, weed-suppressive mats and
dense plantings in beds rather than in rows will all be
contenders in the trial's weed-control studies, but Hopkins
expects weed management in organic potatoes to remain "a
massive headache." He says he's "not excited about
cultivating three times, which can do a lot of damage to
potato roots."
Despite the challenges,
Hopkins says he wants to "demonstrate to myself and to the
growers that we can not only do this but make money at it."
The project is being underwritten by grants from the federal
government and the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to
Pesticides.
At the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, organic
program manager Margaret Misner says that five Idaho
producers were growing organic potatoes on 257 acres in
2005. "Demand is booming and producers can't keep up," she
says. Misner estimates that 140 acres of organic potatoes
were added this year. It takes three years for growers to
qualify a field for organic production-three years in which
no synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers can be
applied before the first organic crop is planted.
Despite the stiffening competition among organic potato
growers with both small and large acreages, Hopkins says
organic production is "so management-intensive that the
small guys will still have an advantage."
"I'm very much for it," says
organic potato producer Mike Heath of the university's
expanded efforts in organic crop research. "I still have a
lot to learn and I don't have the resources to do rotational
research. It would be a great benefit to me and to other
organic producers."
In Buhl, Heath says organic production requires knowledge
"not necessarily of more stuff but of different stuff than
conventional production. The management-especially the
timing-is more intense and you have to know in advance what
your pest problems might be because, if you let them get
ahead of you, they're a lot more expensive to fix."
Fellow organic potato producer
Nathan Jones of Glenns Ferry predicts that the university's
research "is going to help even non-organic producers with
information on how they might be able to reduce their costs
of production."
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