b'Potatoes treatedwith 1,4ZAP. The product isused to burn back peeps and sprouts and has been registered in the United States for four years and was registered in Canada this year. PHOTO: BILL ORRStorageMAINTAINING THE QUALITY of potatoes through storage is as critical to ones ultimate returns as is growing a good crop in the first place. Gone are the days of throwing a crop into any empty structure and hoping for the best: todays potato Innovations storages offer impressively high-tech options, and more storage management innovation is on the horizon.The thermodynamic air envelopemore simply known as heated wallsis a mainstreaming storage technology that has grown in popularity as potato storage capacity has increased. New products, technologies, andThe fact that some growers are storing far more hundredweight than they used to means that buildings are bigger and piles are harder to watch. You want to ways of thinking about storinghedge your bets by putting in as many upgrades as possible, says Chad Kleising-your cropthree experts dis- er, business development and product manager at Meridian Manufacturing Inc. cuss whats out there and whatsIf you put bad potatoes into a building or you dont cool them right, it doesnt matter how good your technology is. But, in normal conditions, heated walls coming in storage structures, ven- certainly maximize your chances of keeping spuds at their best, longer. tilation and sprout control. Designed to maintain temperature and control condensation, heated walls con-sist of a heating and fan system that forces warm air through a four- to six-inch BY: MADELEINE BAERG insulated air envelope sheathed in cladding. Heated wall technology was patented in 1994 by Hansen-Rice Inc. After the patent expired in 2011, many companies began applying similar technology, mostly to rigid frame buildings.In addition to controlling condensation, heated walls offer several side benefits. The air gap offers some insulation value, reducing the total amount of spray foam or rigid insulation required (not enough to compensate for the higher cost of construction, but valuable nonetheless). And, the interior cladding keeps tubers away from exposed foam, reducing dockage, supporting food safety and increasing growers likelihood of capturing processing premiums. 28 SPUDSMART.COM FALL 2019'