In Sweden, the first 5.000 sweet potato plants were planted in an experimental field at the end of May. This is an initiative of the Swedish Agricultural High School. They are collaborating on this project with HIR Skåne, a Swedish agricultural consultancy company. It was, however, not plain sailing with the introduction of this new crop for Sweden.
"I want the sweet potato to remain a niche crop. It must not become a bulk product," says grower, Agneta Svensson. For her, profitability is the most important factor. She has been experimenting with sweet potatoes cultivation for four years. Agneta thinks there is certainly a future for this vegetable in Sweden. "It is fantastic to grow new products. It does, however, bring a lot of work and risks along with it. A lot depends on the price clients are willing to pay. They need to see the added value in Swedish sweet potatoes", says Agneta.
She, and her family grow a number of speciality crops. She points out that the plants need to become less expensive. There are also a few problems with cultivation techniques that need to be solved. There are, however, also benefits. Sweden does not have to deal with the diseases and viruses that they have in the US and Isreal. There they have to use pesticides to protect the crops. "We grow our sweet potatoes just about organically", Agneta continues, while she plants the potato cutting alongside about ten employees.
Research project
The Swedish Agricultural High School and Hir Skåne have been using the Svenssons' fields to experiment with sweet potato cultivation since last year. This research is part of a three-year-long project. It aims to solve a number of problems. The intention is to grow various kinds of sweet potatoes. They want to perfect this crop's cultivation techniques. They also want to find out how to best market Swedish sweet potatoes. Last year, a large number of varieties were tested. These included imported plants and cuttings.
There were also plants grown by the agricultural school and Elitplant stations. This is an experimental nursery in the Swedish city of Kristianstad. They have also partnered with the high school. The Swedish plants did well there. "This year, we want to compare the Swedish plants to the imported ones", says Oskar Hansson, a consultant at HIR Skåne.
Challenge
At the beginning of June, the remaining Svenssons fields will be planted. After that, fields in Småland and Öland will be incorporated into the experiment. "Sweet potatoes need a lot of warmth. It is also important that the plants are well rooted. They need to be planted quickly. If you leave them in pots for too long, you get a clump of tangled roots. The plants then become rootbound", explains Hansson.
The next challenge is harvesting, itself. "Sweet potatoes are fragile. So, if the bushels were removed from the soil mechanically, you have to pick them by hand. "Last year brought good and bad results. A larger proportion of the harvest remained in the ground. "Despite the cold weather, we were able to harvest more than 30 tonnes. Unfortunately, harvesting was difficult due to the rain in the latter part of the year. We are trying to plant some fields earlier this year. We want to start harvesting earlier than last year. This should reduce the risk of rain", he concludes.
Source: www.landlantbruk.se