There is an entire multi-billion-dollar industry built around the Russet Burbank.
Luther Burbank selected the variety over 100 years ago, and it has many advantages. It is thick skinned, stores nicely, fries well, and puts a classic baked potato on dinner plates.
There’s no denying it has provided a lot of reliable calories over the years, but it also has its share of challenges. First, Burbank really likes its inputs. Second, it’s struggling to keep up with climate change pressure.
Is the Burbank we grow today identical to the Burbank of 100 years ago? Likely not. Potatoes have natural genetic drift. But is it really the best we can do as an industry to just continue to ride this 100-year-old variety into the sunset? I don’t think so, and I’m not alone.
#ByeByeBurbank:
One of my favourite potato women in the industry, Nicole Nichols with McCain Produce, had a brilliant post on LinkedIn several months back. It carried with it the hashtag, ‘#byebyeburbank’.
Her perspective was that we can do better, and her challenge was to potato breeders was exactly that: to deliver the same kind of consistent performance throughout the plant’s lifecycle, the same flexibility for the grower and storage manager — all in a variety with fewer inputs and fewer challenges.
The new varieties need to pass the tests climate change presents, and they need to require fewer chemistries, whether that be pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers. And of course, they need to deliver more fries per acre or boxes per acre, depending on end use.
Her call was heard.
Alverstone Russet:
At HZPC we’ve been pushing forward on this for several years. Do we believe that we have the replacement for Russet Burbank? Maybe not yet, but we’re close. We have a variety, Alverstone Russet, that stores just as well as a Russet Burbank, and it fries really well. We’re still working on maximizing its agronomic performance, but so far so good.
Is that the best we can do? Are we going to ride this variety into the next 100 years? Absolutely not. It may take us a few different varieties to finally say bye, bye to Burbank; but like many other potato breeders, we’re focused on how we can do better. The end goal for all of us should be to say bye, bye to Burbank and hello to the future.
