Yara's Incubator Farm Network: Part 4 - Potato

·25 min·1 clip

Erica says there are three levers for lowering potato emissions, and one is just producing the best crop for that season.

1. Yara's Crop Nutrition podcast uses the episode "Yara's Incubator Farm Network: Part 4 - Potato" to follow a potato trial from Washington to Idaho. 2. Scott Warr hosts the conversation, and Erica Wagner, Yara North America's agronomy solutions manager, explains the incubator farm work and the potato program. 3. The episode asks what Yara is testing on the Snake River Valley farm and why potatoes matter for productivity, profitability, and carbon footprint. 4. Erica says the incubator farm spent two growing seasons in Washington's Columbia Basin before moving to Idaho's Snake River Valley. 5. She identifies the Snake River Valley as the U.S. region with the most potato acres and says Idaho grew over 300,000 acres of potatoes in 2023. 6. Erica contrasts Washington's processing potatoes with Idaho's fresh-market potatoes that show up in grocery stores and at Walmart. 7. She explains that processed potatoes need the right shape and size for fries, while fresh-market potatoes are graded by size, skin set, and visual appearance. 8. Erica says the original objective was to measure a complete potato crop nutrition program for productivity, profitability, nitrogen use efficiency, and carbon footprint. 9. She says the first year showed strong quality effects after storage, including better cell wall storage and improved fries per potato for processors. 10. Erica describes a second-year field map that used historic NDVI values to reduce infield variability and produce more consistent yield data. 11. She says the first year accidentally applied more nitrogen, while the 2023 season used less nitrogen and achieved better yield and better quality. 12. Erica explains that Yara Leva CN9 is spoon-fed from tuber initiation onward as a calcium nitrate source matched to weekly crop need. 13. She says petiole samples and soil monitoring guide the nitrogen rate, and that this approach is more efficient than the grower-standard UAN source. 14. Erica notes that the spoon-feeding approach fits Idaho and Washington pivots because the irrigation runs often in hot, dry conditions. 15. She says the same approach is harder in parts of Western Canada, so Yara tailors programs by region, soil type, and grower standard practice. 16. Erica says Yara focuses on potatoes because the crop has a strong nutrition program that can respond to stage-specific needs and seasonal stress. 17. She says most growers are not focused on carbon footprint today, but companies in the potato value chain are setting 2030 and 2050 emissions goals. 18. The interview stays practical and technical, with Scott asking basic production questions and Erica answering with examples from the Columbia Basin and Idaho. 19. Listeners interested in potato agronomy, fertilizer strategy, and on-farm ROI would get the most from it. 20. Listeners wanting a general food story without agronomy detail may skip it.

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