Change Your Storage Mindset

-

With farmland and input costs as high as they are, farm margins are tighter than ever before. To be successful in farming today, farmers need to optimize their returns. In potato production, that means farmers don’t just have to grow great spuds, they have to hold onto that quality through storage. I’m happy to see that our industry is slowly changing its mindset about three long-held storage management myths which cost producers.

Myth 1: Sprout-free is Good Enough

Until recently, most farmers would define ‘good’ storage as getting to sale day with only minimal sprouting. CIPC can (usually) ensure tubers don’t get rejected by a processor or distributor for excessive sprouting. That’s all it can do, however. That’s because CIPC is a sprout suppressant. As such, managing sprouting is all it is designed or able to do.

1,4-SIGHT (1,4-DMN), on the other hand, is a dormancy enhancer, which is entirely different than spout suppression. Yes, 1,4-SIGHT effectively manages sprouts. However, as a dormancy enhancer, the sprout suppression is just one result – essentially a beneficial by-product – of improved dormancy control. Enhanced dormancy carries multiple benefits in addition to sprout suppression: faster pile settling, decreased moisture loss, enhanced tuber turgidity, decreased pressure bruise, black spot and shoulder bruise.

Myth 2: Storage Management Begins After Suberization

Harvest is exhausting. Producers often appreciate the suberization window since it gives some breathing space before a sprout suppressant (CIPC) needs to be applied. But here’s the thing: storage losses start the moment your tubers enter your storage building and start respiring. In fact, that settling period can cost significant money as tubers lose moisture, get bruised, and – in some cases – move towards sprouting in the days after door closure. While adding to the harvest-season workload isn’t fun, applying 1,4SIGHT at bin closure helps quiet a pile quickly, reducing storage season losses. Specifically, 1,4DMN has been shown to trigger fungistatic and water-loss-limiting genes to retain tuber quality and minimize shrinkage.

Myth 3: Storage Management = Once-and-Done

CIPC is easy: apply it once post-suberization and you’re mostly set for the storage season. But just as the best producers are hands-on managers throughout the growing season, the best storage results come when one responds to the unique and changing needs of a crop in storage. Yes, 1,4DMN requires multiple applications. However, the benefits of enhanced sustainability, flexibility, quality, and salable yield easily offset the additional management effort required.

Our industry has taken big strides forward in production. It’s time our attitudes about storage caught up.

Related Articles

How to Help your Pile ‘Sleep In’

Are You Letting Your Stressed Pile Sprout Away?

How Will Overlooking the Storage Season Cost You?

Bill Orr
Bill Orrhttps://14group.ca/
Canada Technical Representative, One Four Group - Bill Orr started in the sprout inhibitor application industry quite by accident. After college, he worked for a tree care company and sprout inhibitor applications were its fall area of business. This was before the VFD was introduced into the application process in Canada. After enduring those dirty times cleaning up after applications, Orr continued on for another 14 years in the industry. He quickly moved on to doing applications, then technical training for applicators, next to managing the entire application process, and eventually to owning his own sprout inhibitor application company. His application experience has allowed him to do application in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Orr finds sprout inhibiting a very interesting and unique industry, and he enjoys all the dynamics and challenges it has to offer.