Potato Review

36 POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 GLOBAL NEWS NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE New Tasmanian project supports sustainability A NEW project by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) will support the ongoing sustainability and profitability of Tasmania’s potato industry. The two-year project, led by TIA Senior Research Fellow Dr Robert Tegg, aims to develop recommendations that will assist growers better to manage the impact of pink rot disease in potatoes. The research will focus on understanding the role that soil pH, acidifying fertilisers and elemental nutrients play in the occurrence of pink rot, and whether these can be modified to improve outcomes for growers. “Pink rot is a serious problem for potato growers around Australia and particularly in the key potato- producing regions of Tasmania. This season has been tough for Tasmanian growers, and it’s predicted that the industry will experience severe losses in the current growing season,” Dr Tegg said. “Pink rot disease is characterised by a pink colouration and distinctly unpleasant odour. It causes rapid rotting of potato tubers, whether in-ground or in storage, and results in significant yield losses and product downgrades or rejection.” Potatoes are Tasmania’s highest value vegetable and an increase in production volume last season saw the farm gate value grow by 11% to $123 million, with a processed value of $435 million. Dr Tegg said there was an urgent need to identify eective control methods to support the industry’s sustainability and profitability into the future. “Current control strategies, specifically fungicide usage for pink rot control, have become less eective in recent years,” Dr Tegg said. The project will include pot trials, targeted field surveys of 20 potato paddocks, and two field trials in collaboration with local growers and agronomists. Simplot Australia Potato Agricultural Manager, Jo Tubb, said pink rot was a serious soil-borne pathogen that renders some of the highly infected paddocks in Tasmania to be unsuitable for potato cultivation. “Some potato paddocks experience a regular substantial yield loss ranging from 5% to 30%even when current recommended fungicide treatments are applied. Therefore, any research that can help us to understand the epidemiology of pink rot, the interactions between the pathogen and the growing environment, and its potential control would be of benefit to the potato industry,” Ms Tubb said. The project ‘Investigating soil pH and nutrition as possible factors influencing pink rot in potatoes’, is funded by Hort Innovation using industry levies and contributions from the Australian Government. Costly fries inPakistan EATING french fries will cost more now as the price of potatoes increased by 63% in July 2020 compared to July 2019, according to the data released on Monday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The inflation rate, the overall increase in prices of essential goods and services, for July was 9.3% as compared to the previous years, according to the bureau. The overall inflation rate was higher than central bank’s own forecast. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures prices of a ‘basket’ of 480 common goods and services such as the cost of education, house rent, utility bills and food and beverages, is expected to range between 7% and 9% for fiscal year 2021, State Bank of Pakistan said in June. Higher than expected inflation rate was primarily driven by the government’s decision to increase petrol price by Rs25 per litre for July. The average inflation rate for fiscal year 2020 was 10.74%, the highest annual inflation rate in the last eight years. China livelihood from petri dish potatoes THE potato industry in Ulanqab, dubbed the “potato city” of China, has become one of the main industries to help farmers shake o poverty. Located in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Ulanqab is an important national production hub for commercial potatoes and special potatoes for processing. The potatoes originate from petri dishes in a laboratory. The laboratory can breed 150 million virus-free seedlings every year. Planting potatoes with virus-free seedlings has greatly improved planting e¦ciency and product quality, it is claimed. Ulanqab has a large temperature dierence between day and night, concentrated precipitation, loose soil and soft sand, which are all conducive to potato growth. At the right place and right time, the potato farming industry has helped many poor local households shake o poverty. Local news source XinhuaNet recently interviewed Yang Hongjuan, 34, a farmer in the county’s Lamaban Village, who is amongst those to benefit. Last year, with the help of the local government, Yang received an interest-free loan of 20,000 yuan and contracted two greenhouses. A technician from Inner Mongolia Xisen Potato Co., Ltd. taught Yang to plant virus-free seedlings. Half a year later, she was able to finish the planting work on her own. The virus-free seedlings produce thumb-sized fruits. These miniature potatoes are called “breeder seeds.” The fruit grown with the breeder seed is the potato people usually eat. Last year, these seeds brought Yang more than 60,000 yuan in revenue. Yang paid o the loan, renovated her house and shook o poverty. Forty-four registered poverty-stricken households rented greenhouses to cultivate breeder seeds. The net income brought by each greenhouse could reach at least 15,000 yuan a year. Renting two greenhouses, one family can get rid of poverty. In recent years, the potato planting area in Ulanqab has covered more than 267,000 hectares, accounting for about 8% of the total potato planting areas in China, according to local authorities. This year, Yang’s village is expected to produce 62 million potato breeder seeds, which could be planted in 800 hectares of croplands.