New potato varieties require less nitrogen fertilizer

Potato growers can't go to an industry meeting anymore without hearing a talk about sustainability.

They're told they need to reduce their carbon footprint and adhere to good agricultural practices. Fast food restaurants are also under pressure to reduce the amount of pesticides applied to the spuds they serve as french fries.

The industry has changed and potato breeders are changing spuds to keep up, researchers said at the Idaho Potato Conference this week. The theme was "Putting Sustainability into Practice."

Researchers outlined some of the advantages of new Russet varieties compared with the industry standard -- the Russet Burbank.

Most of the new varieties that have come out of the tri-state breeding program (Idaho, Oregon and Washington) in recent years have appreciably higher nitrogen use efficiencies compared with the Burbank, said Jeff Stark, director of the University of Idaho's potato variety development program.

Alturas, a newer processing Russet, uses about 42 percent less nitrogen fertilizer than the Burbank to produce the same yield, he said.