Potato Sustainability Alliance Pt 2

Potato Sustainability Alliance Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. As consumers and investors become more concerned and interested in sustainability, potato growers are also improving their practices to enhance or improve potatoes across the board.

And surveys conducted by the Potato Sustainability Alliance are showing that.

PSA Executive Director, John Mesko says, absolutely! …

MESKO … “We currently survey between five and six hundred potato farmers in North America every year and we’ve been that for about ten years. And we’ve tracked the progress of that. And what we’re really asking is, what types of practices do you do on your farm, and we rate those practices based on their impact on sustainability.”

But, Mesko says, to varying degrees …

MESKO … “Some things have a modest impact on overall sustainability, other things have a greater impact. For example, cover crops and reduced tillage, those are two things that are a bit of a challenge in many areas for potato farmers to implement. But there are also very impactful practices on sustainability.”

And the more farmers use those practices, Mesko says, the higher they score …

MESKO … “For 2022, we have these practices broken down in different categories: Steward, Expert, Master, and so forth, and the average producer in our survey is at that Expert level.”

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