World climate change calls for drastic changes in potato cultivation oil dry as dust and potatoes susceptible to bruising because of a hot summer period without a drop of rain have resulted in many visitors to the PotatoEurope 2009 Congress now being faced with a big problem. The congress’ conclusion is that the world climate change calls for drastic changes in potato cultivation worldwide. NAO chairman, Kees van Arendonk, already referred to this briefly in his word of welcome at the PotatoEurope 2009 Congress: climate change will also affect the cultivation of potatoes. In some parts of the world, the excess of water is increasing, in other parts there is a shortage. These are opportunities for potato growers, says Van Arendonk, because ‘the potato is a water-efficient crop’. This may be so, but the potato is a crop that needs water to grow and, with slightly less rainfall than normal, in some parts of the world, potato growing is no longer profitable. And we don’t need to travel very far to find those regions. According to guest speaker and TV weatherman Gerrit Hiemstra, we in the Netherlands have experienced the ninth hot summer in a row that was warmer than the average of many years. Although, on an annual basis, more rain will fall in the future, the potato crop will, indeed, need more rain during dry periods as a result of increased evaporation through higher temperatures. To make up for that shortage of water, extra supplies of fresh water will be needed. And this is exactly the problem in the various regions of the Netherlands and Northern Europe, because fresh water is not available everywhere, and it cannot be transported everywhere if, for example, we think of seed potato growing. Yield losses of up to 30 percent Weatherman Gerrit Hiemstra couldn’t have chosen a better time, if he had been able to choose it himself; to give a talk about climate change for a sector that is experiencing the consequences of that change at that very moment. A soil dry as dust and potatoes susceptible to bruising because of a hot summer period without a drop of rain have resulted in many in the Audience being confronted with a big problem. Most of the people present must therefore have pricked up their ears the moment that Hiemstra started talking about the impact that the rise in the earth’s temperature can have for the cultivation of potatoes. At any rate, higher temperatures will mean that, with no change in yield, the potato crop will need even more water than it is already using at present. The reason for this is that evaporation in plants will continue to increase. In regions that are currently already very dry, we will see lower yields as a result of water stress. Countries with tropical and sub-tropical climates may already have to deal with that now, according to Hiemstra. Calculations have shown that potato growers will have to reckon with a loss in yield of 20 to 30 percent. In those climate regions where irrigation is not possible, it will no longer be possible, in the long run, to grow potatoes. Longer seasons But the reverse is also true. There are also areas where the yields and possibilities for potato growing will increase. Hiemstra is then talking about Northern Europe and Scandinavia, for example. Higher temperatures in these regions will lengthen the growing season. The number of frost days will fall and the possibility of frost damage at the beginning and end of the growing season will also be limited, ultimately resulting in higher yields per hectare and more scope for cultivation. When looking at the yield figures per hectare in Northern Europe, one can see that yields are, According to guest speaker and TV weatherman Gerrit Hiemstra, we in the Netherlands have experienced the ninth hot summer in a row that was warmer than the average of many years. Potato World 2009 • number 4 11 Pagina 10
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