DAIRY, Ore. — As university experts, market specialists and industry professionals combed through more than 55,000 new potato varieties this week, some company and grower representatives had a chance to put in their two bits for the more unique spuds in the field.
Every fall the Tri-State Potato Research and Breeding Program harvests new types of potato varieties in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. In Oregon—in partnership with Oregon State University and Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center (KBREC)—experts look at potatoes in Ontario, Hermiston, Corvallis and Klamath County. Brian Charlton, KBREC research and extension agronomist specializing in potatoes, said
80 percent of the plants tested in Klamath are Russets, 15 percent are chip potatoes and 5 percent are specialty potatoes.
The Experts
Teams of university, industry, market and grower specialists looked over the potato crop, choosing about 1 percent to continue on to be tested again next year. It takes about 12 to 15 years of whittling down and testing before a new potato is ready for the market.
After the teams went through the fields, individual industry partners had a chance to mark any additional specialty potatoes that caught their eye. By paying a fee, the industry partners can advocate for any specific varieties to continue into the next year of testing.
“They’re looking for different things,” said Jeanne Debons, executive director of the Potato Variety Management Institute. “They’re looking for lots of little tubers, looking for nice colors, good taste. Different things.”
“Something unique,” added Kelly Kuball of Tasteful Selections, based in Bakersfield, Calif. “Different from mainstream potato market.”
“It could be size, it could be shape, it could be color, it could be taste,” Debons said. “It’s just a potluck. You never know which ones are going to be successful.”
Being involved in the potato variety trials is helpful to the industry as a whole, said Allan French of Caldwell, Idaho, a variety development manager with Simplot.
Supply and Demand
“We guide the breeders as to what we’re looking for,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be just french fries. It can be fresh or specialty varieties. There’s a big interest in specialty varieties now—colored, fingerlings and baby potatoes. Things that bring new interest to the consumer.”
French’s noted that his main focus is french fries.
“We’re looking for a nice, blocky potato,” he said. “Our biggest customer is McDonald’s. We’re looking at something that would make what we call ‘extra-long fancy’ french fries. If we could make it in bricks it’d be perfect, but we can’t.”
He picked up a squat, ovate potato.
“These are nice and blocky, so when they go through the cutter they make a lot of french fries,” he said. “The more you have pointed ends or odd shapes then you get a lot of waste. The blockier the better.”
French said the industry as a whole is often looking for new types of potatoes. The tri-state variety program works over decades to develop those new potatoes. Every year researchers plant thousands of new types of potatoes. Those thousands of plants are whittled down year after year until, a decade later, a new potato is ready for the market.
“We are constantly (looking for potatoes) that are more efficient with fertilizers, more resistant to diseases,” he said. “The other thing we really like is so we can store them colder and not have sugars accumulate. In storing them cold, the starches convert to sugars, and when you fry them, they fry dark.”
Source: Herald & News (Klamath Falls, Ore.)