August 1, 2008

Why are you here?

Have you come here because you love Klondike Rose and you want to learn more about the “red skinned potato with the heart of gold”? Or are you here because you love food, and you want to learn more about the humble potato? Maybe you’re here because you want to share your favorite recipe, or you would like to ask a nagging question about potatoes or about the Klondike Rose or about the health attributes of potatoes in general. Maybe you’re here to ask pointers on how you can grow potatoes in your backyard. Whatever the reason….welcome…I am glad you’re here.

Potatoes are a very important vegetable, and quickly becoming more important. They are one of the most “efficient” crops grown. ie. food value vs inputs. They can grow virtually anywhere, although growing specific varieties, like Klondike Rose require specific soils, and climates. They grow in places like Alaska, Iceland, the mountains of Chile and Peru, China, India, the Middle East, high plains deserts, and low lying coastal regions. There are thousands of varieties, each with its own strengths and weaknesses…each with its own DNA…each totally different from all others.

Growing potatoes is very challenging. Weather, soil, and disease can totally mess up all your hard work. Then, just when you are finished putting that last load of potatoes in the storage, proud of the great crop that you have grown, happy that you have managed to avoid a disaster…you realize that everyone else has avoided the same disasters, and they also have great crops…the market realizes that supply exceeds demand…and prices fall. Suddenly all your hard work seems like a waste of time. You can’t even get back your cost of production. Talk about demoralizing!

However, there is light on the horizon for the potato grower. As World demand increases for grain, corn and rice, escalating the prices for these commodities, potatoes are enjoying a surge in demand too. And that’s just the start…potatoes could be the salvation to many of the World’s present food problems. Potato flour could ease the pressure on the baking industry’s rising costs. Dehydrated potato flakes can help feed the masses of starving people in Third World Countries, and fresh potatoes, because they are such an efficient crop, and can be grown virtually anywhere, could ease the dependence on rice in the Asian countries. Potato growing could become very fashionable.

So thanks for dropping by…come by again soon…don’t forget to take the Potato Survey on this blog. (it will help us understand what consumers really want)