09/07 AusIndustry Grant Success!!!

Agronico has recently been awarded a major AusIndustry Research Grant to conduct research into a specialized process for seed potato production.

This project has been set up to test and commercialise a process that will consistently and reliably produce the ‘designer spud’ – to do what you want it to – in order to meet increasing demand for tight market specifications in both the processing and fresh market sectors.

The end product will depend on the target market. Early generation seed potatoes for production of later generation seed potatoes need to be able to produce multiple stems leading to higher numbers of smaller tubers.  In contrast, seed potatoes used for production of processing potatoes need to produce fewer stems per seed piece leading to a lower number of larger tubers.  In the fresh market, larger numbers of small tubers are also needed.

Currently with the standard seed production process it is very difficult to consistently predict what a potato seed piece will produce, leading to large variability in size, shape and yield of the harvested potatoes of commercial crops.  The process being developed, tested and commercialised in this project will enable predictability to be introduced.  This process involves careful control of storage and production parameters from tissue culture through to the supply of seed potatoes for commercial production. 

The project commenced in January 2007 and is scheduled for completion in December 2009.