Sustaining the Potato Sustainability Momentum
By John Mesko, Executive Director
When I talk about how we can make potato production more resilient and efficient at industry events this winter, I won’t be alone.
Sustainability is everywhere. The messages speakers share from the stage and the conference conversations stakeholders have in the hallways will underscore the generational significance of good stewardship practices.
As the calendar flips to 2024, we continue to tell a compelling story about the conservation practices and smart technology potato farmers are adopting. And, most importantly, together, we are leading the way with a fully engaged and collaborative value chain to tell that story.
When farmers evaluate costs, efficiency, and safety in the production of potatoes, they enhance and improve the sustainability and resiliency of the production system and all its components, including soil, water, climate, and the people who manage those resources.
Environmental Stewardship: As Mike Nemeth, Senior Advisor, Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability at Nutrien, notes, the two biggest inputs needed to grow a crop are water and nutrients.
However, not everyone has the same goals or understanding when it comes to sustainable input management. This is why the Potato Sustainability Alliance (PSA) is de-emphasizing a “crop per drop” measurement of water on farms. Potato producers cannot afford to apply more water or fertilizer to increase crop production, and it is often environmentally and economically inefficient. Farmers are challenged to do more with less by measuring what they manage.
Now more than ever, PSA is focused on raising awareness and intent regarding essential inputs. Working with our processor and fresh market members, we are helping growers understand the impact of their use of water and nutrients on the broader factors of potato production in addition to yield, including marketable yield per acre and carbon footprints.
Controlling Variables with Varieties: Potatoes are a high-input, high-output crop, and while sustainability is gaining global momentum, so is the need to localize variety selection.
Advances in variety selection are having and will continue to have a major impact on the future of potato sustainability. Today, potato breeders look at the environmental metrics of new varieties related to sustainability, including water usage and storability.
Helping producers match a variety that aligns with their sustainability goals based on specific traits allows potatoes to be more adaptable to changes in climate or local restrictions on water and chemical application.
As we demonstrate the value of evaluating varieties through a sustainability lens, we will be much more successful in getting better-performing varieties accepted by growers and buyers.
Safe, Sustainable Storage: Planting, growing and harvesting potatoes are essential aspects of a stewardship strategy, but storage can be just as critical to the success of a crop.
As Bill Orr, the Canada Technical Representative with 1,4Group, a potato storage quality company says, potatoes often spend more time in storage than growing in the field.
Storage losses impact financial viability, food waste, and energy use metrics which can make or break the story of potato sustainability. From reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage to crediting farmers for steps toward sustainability, Orr sees opportunities to capture economic and environmental benefits with efficient storage.
The adoption of smarter, data-driven storage methods is gaining traction, and there is the potential to incentivize investment in the future.
Holistic Sustainability Measurement: Reinforcing the importance of measuring to manage is key to long-term sustainability because farmers don’t just grow potatoes.
Robust crop rotations make potato farming one of the most complex and interesting farm production systems. Other crops in these rotations may add or subtract from the bottom line, and moving forward, we need to be able to account for the impact of rotational crops on the full sustainability story of that farm.
I think about Idaho farmer Ritchey Toevs, an active advocate for crop diversity. He grows potatoes in a 4-year rotation. His farm plants winter wheat after potato harvest then applies compost to reestablish a volunteer cover crop and keep it alive as long as possible.
Toevs reminds us that “one percent of organic matter holds about 20,000 gallons of water per acre which is about three-quarters of an inch of plant-available water. That water can supply crop needs for as much as two days during hot, windy periods.”
Thinking about the progress Toevs and our industry have already made in areas like soil regeneration and water conservation, I’m looking forward to the future products and practices that will define the next generation of potato production.
PSA will continue to be a collaborative partner to help measure on-farm impacts from all crops and all processes to aid growers in benchmarking their stewardship efforts.
While sustainability is everywhere, our story is just beginning. So many new and evolving trends are impacting its evolution so let’s keep the conversation going on how we manage and track sustainability for more profitable, productive potato farms in the future.