Cavendish Farms researchers search for potatoes that can cope with P.E.I. climate challenges
Ideal potato will be drought-tolerant and resistant to things like scab and potato wart
It takes almost a decade to develop a new variety of potato, and that's why researchers at Cavendish Farms are planting 100,000 plantlets a year in the search for a better fit for P.E.I. growers.
The frozen food giant opened its $12.5 million research facility in New Annan, P.E.I., in September 2020 with three greenhouses. Now there are six greenhouses dedicated to potato breeding, with two 50,000-specimen plantings each year.
"In a conventional breeding program, the stats are normally somewhere between one and two new varieties out of that 100,000 and we start the 100,000 every year," said Jubs Bristow, the Cavendish Farms VP of agriculture.
"The key challenges we face as an industry on the Island are drought resistance, resistance to verticillium or potato early die, and resistance to scab," Bristow said.
"The other one we've introduced into the breeding program is resistance to potato wart."
9-year search
Bristow said Cavendish is in year six of what the company is hoping will be a nine-year cycle to produce some new varieties. They are zeroing in on five of what they call clones, which are a unique cross between two different varieties that have the attributes Cavendish Farms researchers are seeking.
He said potatoes from those clones have just been harvested, and seed from the ones that make it to the next round will go back to the field next year.
Bristow said the new varieties are grown out in the fields, in normal growing conditions for P.E.I., where they're exposed to all of the existing diseases and challenges that involves.
He said they're measured against what has long been the standard on P.E.I., the Russet Burbank, at one time known as the Netted Gem.
Bristow said the percentage of Russet Burbanks grown by Cavendish Farms has dropped considerably, at 22 per cent of their 2024 crop, versus a historical 75 to 80 per cent.
We need them to be sustainable. We need the environment to be looked after on the Island... but at the same time deliver quality potatoes to produce quality french fries.— Jubs Bristow, VP of Agriculture at Cavendish Farms
"We were having real challenges growing it on P.E.I., mainly due to potato early die and then the lack of moisture in some of the previous years, and the long season that it needs too," Bristow said.
"Hence the need to move to varieties that are more environmentally friendly, and are going to reduce our carbon footprint, and use less water, and need less chemical."
He said the Russet Burbank is still being grown because it lasts in storage longer than other varieties.
Bristow said Cavendish Farms has a short-term program in which they have introduced new commercially available varieties from other regions, in addition to breeding new varieties for Island growers.
"We need them to be sustainable. We need the environment to be looked after on the Island," he said.
"These new varieties are enabling both, by improving the grower's yield, and their viability on farm, and their return per acre, but at the same time deliver quality potatoes to produce quality french fries."
Bristow said it's also important to look for ways to shorten how long it takes to grow the crop, as weather patterns change.
He said a major goal is to find a way to identify traits faster in new varieties, to speed up the search, "so we can try and shorten that cycle from the nine to 10 years... Certainly four to five years would be ideal because the program doesn't stop there. Then you start the whole seed multiplication process.
"Every year we can shave off, it is going to be better for the environment and better for our growers."
Drought resistance 'key'
John Ramsay and his two sons own and operate Oyster Cove Farms in Hamilton, P.E.I., and grow potatoes for Cavendish Farms.
"Whenever an opportunity arises to try a new variety, everybody's interested in doing it, especially us," he said.
"Yield is a big thing and some of these newer varieties we're finding can use less fertilizer, which is very important too," Ramsay said.
If we can grow less acres to produce the same amount of potatoes, then that's key as well.— John Ramsay, Oyster Cove Farms
"With everything with respect to carbon and climate change, these things are key. And if we can grow less acres to produce the same amount of potatoes, then that's key as well."
Ramsay said it was extremely dry this summer in the Malpeque Bay area where they farm.
"Keep developing varieties that are resistant to drought — I think that's gonna be key," he said.
"The last drought that we really had was 2001 and the crops were substantially down, as much as 40 per cent. This year it appears they're in the range of maybe 15 or 20 per cent. So things have improved with the new varieties."
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