FoodTrust - Connections

I walked to our kitchen yesterday and noticed several baskets of little potatoes. There were potatoes of all shapes and colours, but all small. I wondered what that was about, so I asked William, our Crop Specialist.

It seems small potatoes, or creamers, are a hot item on our shelves. They’ve been so popular, and supply is so hard to come by, that we’ve been working on a project to figure out how to grow more small potatoes. Kind of flies in the face of traditional thinking, doesn’t it?

One of the projects William has been working on this year is trials to determine the best methods to grow creamer potatoes. Several varieties were tested to see which produce the best creamers. Each variety has its own unique taste and use.

William told me that using less fertilizer is one strategy he used. The plants don’t have the nutrients they require to grow big. This is a good thing because that means fewer chemicals (nitrates in particular) are going into the environment. Another strategy is to plant the potato plants closer together. Put them together and you should get small potatoes with more of them per acre.

William told me that an advantage of growing small potatoes is that the potatoes are ready for harvest earlier so there is more time to establish a cover crop. Cover crops are used to protect the soil during rain and wind storms that frequently occur in the off season.

Well, that sounds good so far. What actually happened during the trial? Well, the photo says it all – lots of small potatoes.

Scott