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SPUDSMART.COM INTERNATIONAL EDITION 201520 Shawn Paget a grower in Simons New Brunswick and the current chairman of Potatoes New Brunswick says he learned a lot from the trip. There are a lot of techniques that theyre doing that are different and I think could help us improve on some of our crops. Paget agrees that the importance of high quality seed was a key takeaway from the trip. Part of that message he says is ensuring good seed profiles smaller and more uniformly sized and proper seed maturity since adequately aged seed results in more vigorous plants and consistent plant stands coming out of the ground. According to Paget Argentinean seed potatoes generally have very low virus levels. Growers there generally plant a lot more whole seed than cut seed he says and they also take great care to minimize bruising he says. I think thats an area we really have to work on. How to handle and condition that seed so we have perfect stuff going into the ground Paget adds. For my own practice Im going to look for seed that is a smaller profile maybe not all whole seed but a smaller seed profile. That and a mature seed crop that goes back to having a higher specific gravity and making sure that potato is physiologically aged. Thats basically what Im going to be looking for as a process grower. Matt Griffeth a processing potato farmer in Limestone Maine was one of the American producers on the trip. One thing he observed was that there appeared to be more earlier generation seed being used by Argentinean growers. Theyreplantingseedthatsatleastonefield-year generationsometimestwofieldgenerationsearlierthanwe areGriffethsayscitingincreasedplantvigourandless exposuretopotatodiseasesasbenefitsofthispractice. I agree 100 per cent with their use of earlier generation of seed. I think theres a lot of potential in our area for that. PLENTIFUL LAND For Griffeth another thing that stood from the trip was the abundance of land in Argentina. Theres just so much potential for large-scale production agriculture in that country he says. Paget was similarly impressed pointing out that growers in Argentina have the luxury of being able to pick and choose the best land available for potato production. A lot of their ground down there is rented every year so theyre able to pick prime fields all the time whereas up here we dont have that option he says. Argentinean growers are even able to access virgin ground that has never grown potatoes before something unheard of in the long-established farming areas in Maine and New Brunswick. The potential here of extending our acres is just not there Griffeth says. I think we are pretty much utilizing all of our land and were getting the most out of it that we possibly can at this point. Because of all that land Argentinean growers also have the advantage of being able to utilize very long crop rotations as much as one year of potatoes in a seven or even eight year rotation in some instances. EQUIPMENT EDGE All this isnt to say there isnt an area or two where North America producers may have an edge according to the Canadian and American farmers on the trip. As far as their mechanical technology goes Id say theyre significantly behind us says Griffeth. Paget maintains Canadian producers are able to put their potatoes in the ground much more quickly. For one thing they dont have to deal with the infrastructure issues that can slow down the movement of seed stock and fertilizer products in Argentina. That was one thing we did notice. They only average eight to 12 hectares a day with a four-row planter and thats a good day for them. Whereas here were pounding the hectares in. I average Id say between 25 and 30 hectares a day Paget says. He adds Argentinean growers also struggle with more blight issues and insect problems. While some of the issues faced by growers in the different hemispheres are different he says there are similarities as well. For one thing the cost of production appeared to be similar for the Argentinean and North American farmers. Potatoes en route to the McCain Argentina processing plant. PHOTO MCCAIN FOODS. Theres just so much potential for large-scale production agriculture in that country. MATT GRIFFETH FACT In 2013 Argentina produced two million tonnes of potatoes on close to 172000 acres of land. Canada in comparison produced just over 4.6 million tonnes of potatoes on just over 351000 acres of land in 2013. SOURCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS.