Tuber Talk

Agronomists have the privilege of visiting many fields in a season and seeing the bigger picture. Sebastian Margarit, director of agronomy for NutriAg, and Kelly Nesic, field research specialist with NutriAg, share their experiences working with potato growers over the years. They discuss coping with COVID-19, the biggest concerns during each growing stage, producer trends, and share differences b...

Several factors impact potato emergence. For example, whether seed is cut or planted whole, seed quality, the temperature of the soil, the physiological maturity of the seed, even the calibration of your machinery, can all have an impact on a crop’s success. Steven Johnson, crops specialist and extension professor from the University of Maine, shares some tips and reminders for growers. Support fo...

Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has wrapped up, or is expecting to wrap up in 2020, several pesticide re-evaluation decisions for commonly used products in the Canadian potato industry such as Group M fungicides and neonicotinoids. We chat with Tracy Shinners-Carnelley, vice president of research and quality at Peak of the Market, on what this means for potato growers. Shinners-C...

During the season, looking at tissue data of potatoes gives a grower a scorecard of how their crop is doing. However, classical methods for interpreting tissue samples and “critical values” are out of date. Sebastian Margarit, director of agronomy for NutriAg, talks about some misconceptions about nutrient use efficiency in potatoes and asks growers to consider the interdependency of nutrients and...

In Tuber Talk’s inaugural episode, host Stephanie Gordon caught up with Neil Gudmestad at Manitoba Potato Production Days - his last event as an academic. Gudmestad has devoted 43 years of his life to potato disease research and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Potato Congress for his contributions to the global potato industry. He retired earlier this year and reflects on h...