Chapter 33 - Agronomic practices

Abstract

This chapter discusses the agronomic practices. The trend toward larger growers and producer groups in many countries has aided rapid adoption of new techniques, but traditional husbandry remains important and policies that provide short-term gains can place sustainable future production at risk. Potato production has often been highly profitable, albeit subject to variable yields and crop prices year to year, and high input costs have been accepted, but currently, economic and environmental pressures require the use of all inputs to be constantly reviewed. The information that growers need to make rational decisions in relation to many of their production practices is not always known or available, and although crop growth models and decision support systems (DSS) offer opportunities to aid in this, the trend to turn the research focus away from experimental data and toward simulation is not entirely wise. It presents growers with a challenging future for they increasingly require accurate knowledge of the major individual disciplines that contribute to the agronomic management of the potato crop, and this demands improved understanding of growth and development. The scope of crop planning is considerable, as it includes everything from choice of variety and procurement of seed through site selection, nutrient requirements and establishing a sequence of operations from soil preparation until the end of crop storage. Sophisticated production systems can be integrated in such a way that seed and ware production cycles are matched, so that seed of the most appropriate physiological state is used for ware production.