In September, Montana Seed Potato Certification and Potatoes USA had the honor of hosting a gathering of seed potato certification practitioners from around the world. Visitors had the pleasure of experiencing the best fall weather Sept. 23-25, and before they left Montana, some of them got to see their first-ever snow.
The group was made up of delegates from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Committee on Seed Potato Standards. Delegates attended from Australia, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and the U.S. Other participants included representatives from Potatoes USA, USDA, Montana Department of Agriculture and the Montana Seed Potato Certification program.
The UNECE Seed Potato Standards Committee is tasked with maintaining the UNECE Standard for Seed Potatoes, which sets common terminology and minimum commercial quality requirements for the certification of high-quality seed intended for marketing internationally. It is a unique international frame of reference, covering all aspects related to seed potato certification including varietal identity and purity, genealogy and traceability, diseases and pests, external quality, sizing of tubers, and labeling. In addition, the committee develops informational materials that benefit all potato specialists. These include its “Guide to Seed Potato Diseases, Pests and Defects,” “Guide to Seed Potato Field Inspection: Recommended Practices,” and “Guide on Seed Potato Lot Inspection” as well as position papers on diseases and disorders of potato, and emerging topics such as true potato seed. These documents can be found at www.unece.org/trade/agr/standard/potatoes.
The program kicked off with a welcome from Montana State University and Nina Zidack presenting on seed potato certification in the U.S. Potatoes USA’s Amy Burdett presented an overview of the U.S. Seed Potato Export Program and the activities of Potatoes USA.
Potatoes USA’s Peter Joyce outlined seed potato variety demonstration trials in developing markets. He spoke of his experience in developing markets for seed potatoes in Myanmar, the Dominican Republic, Morocco and Uruguay. He also spoke candidly about carefully evaluating whether a country has the potential to raise its own seed or is better off importing, as well as the need for variety evaluation in each country and the importance of clean seed potatoes.
Saul Mercado, also from Potatoes USA, spoke to the group on the status of seed potato production in Latin America. This included seed potato projects in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Uruguay. Mercado emphasized the need for a win-win partnership between collaborating countries. He also commented that the work was both rewarding and beneficial to the local population. Mercado also discussed his work for Potatoes USA translating UNECE publications into Spanish. This is of particular interest to the UNECE committee because of an interest in outreach to the Latin American seed potato industry.
Todd Mattos from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service outlined the USDA’s shipping point inspection program. He provided a history of shipping point inspection programs and their applications in the U.S.
Following the morning presentations, participants toured the Montana State University potato lab, where tissue culture supervisor Elaine Nichols showed them procedures and facilities for maintenance of potato lines and production of micro-tubers. Lab supervisor Steve Hystad demonstrated Montana’s high-throughput tissue-pressing system for the processing of leaf and tuber samples for ELISA and PCR.
UNECE business was conducted, which included work on the “Guide on Mini-tuber Production” and drafting of a survey on bacterial potato pathogens, which will be distributed to certification programs throughout the world. Delegates discussed new and emerging diseases with Hanna Kortemaa from Finland, who presented research on different strains of Liberibacter. Chissa Bruijs from the Netherlands presented work on diagnostics of potato mop-top virus and findings that testing of dormant tubers is preferred to testing leaves or stems. Sanette Thiart from South Africa delivered information on variety renewal in tissue culture, including protocols used in South Africa to ensure there is no loss of important traits in vitro. Elena Pavlova and Andrey Ivanov from Russia presented an update on seed potato certification and mini-tuber production in Russia.
For our international visitors, the highlight of the program was a visit to Schutter Seed Farm, where they got to see field harvest operations. Many of the delegates took the opportunity to ride along in the tractors powering the windrower and combine. They were also able to observe grading at the cellar, which was assisted by a vacuum separator removing vines, dirt clods, rocks and other debris from the potatoes, significantly reducing the amount of hand grading required.
This visit was also greatly appreciated by the folks from Potatoes USA and our MSU and Montana Department of Ag representatives, who rarely have the chance to actually witness work in the field. The field day culminated with a tour of Dry Hills Distillery, which produces vodka and gin from surplus seed potatoes produced by London Hills and Droge Farms, all operated by the Droge family.