Observations on the 2024 season
This season, the pressure of mildew is particularly strong due to its early appearance and persistence. While a conventional potato trial received its twelfth fungicidal treatment in mid-2010, theAugust, the organic crop opened its doors to the public for the fifth consecutive year with still green varieties that have withstood this strong mildew pressure.
How to succeed in organic potato farming under such pressure? This is the challenge of this CRA-W trial, in collaboration with FIWAP and Biowallonie. To avoid a loss of yield, and therefore financial, important for farmers, the agreement “robust potatoes”, signed in 2019 and renewed in 2023 until 2026, Encourages the sector to use more robust varieties in order to increase the share of robust potato varieties both on our fields and on our plates.
To be considered a robust potato variety, it must be, in order of importance, resistant to mildew, more tolerant to abiotic stress (mainly drought and heat) and less nitrogen-intensive.
This prospect is still of great interest, as evidenced by the participation of 70 people from Belgium, France and the Netherlands in the 2024 trial visit. Visitors were able to discover potatoes in an untreated varietal trial, with a glimpse of the 30 varieties from the “Official List of Hardy Varieties of 2024” but also five promising varieties and the control variety Agria. Six varieties from the CRA-W improvement program were also presented. The technical route has been outlined and intermediate results in terms of mildew resistance and yield have been revealed.
In the end, this event is above all a convivial moment that brings together all the actors of the sector: farmers, farmers, processors, seed companies, seedlings houses, researchers and accompanying structures.
CRA-W is organizing a tasting on December 5, upon registration, to assess the organoleptic qualities of robust potatoes in relation to their target market. Currently, the range includes firm potatoes, firm salads, tender (often versatile) and some varieties specifically intended for processing into fries or chips.
Useful information
Team
