McCain Foods in Chin, Alberta, has established a partnership with the Farming Smarter Association, utilizing one of its commercial plots to conduct a trial with four potato varieties through six treatments. This initiative aims to identify best management practices surpassing those of the Russet Burbank, the dominant potato variety in Canada.
The trial is conducted on one of Farming Smarter's plots, with a focus on finding varieties that offer improved efficiencies, water fertility, and pest and disease tolerances compared to the Russet Burbank, which has been the standard for over a century. Amanda Crook, lead agronomist at McCain Foods, noted during a Farming Smarter field school day, "We were really excited when they came to us expressing interest in getting into the potato research that they're doing."
McCain Foods, among 32 companies holding research contracts with the association, continues to invest in the potato variety pipeline to address the research gap in Alberta. Crook mentioned, "Our core principle is not research, it's growing the world's best french fries," adding the opportunity to explore new varieties.
Despite the long-standing prominence of Russet Burbank, McCain is aiming for new varieties to reduce its dominance by 2030. The goal is to provide commercial growers with robust agronomic packages and best management practices, fostering confidence in these new varieties. Crook stated, "As a producer, there are a lot of you who get confidence when you get third-party data. It's not McCain telling you that this is the best variety."
The collaborative trial aims to offer producers validated, non-biased, third-party research data, which Crook emphasized as crucial for growers when onboarding a new variety. With the ongoing research, McCain Foods seeks to equip producers with essential economic information supporting decision-making processes on adopting new potato varieties.
Source: The Western Producer
