Good Fruit & Vegetables journalist Ashley Walmsley has spent the last two and a half weeks in Peru, gathering stories from the International Potato Centre and attending the 10th World Potato Congress.

As part of his trip, Ashley has filed The Spud Diaries – dispatches from his trip that give a great look at how potatoes are treated in their native land, including their cultural significance and the research being done to support better production.

These posts offer revealing insights into the role potatoes play in overseas agriculture and the work being done to make sure that research results in practical, on-farm results.

Take a look at the full series of dispatches below:

0. Welcome Aboard
1. Getting There
2. Still Getting There
3. In Flight
4. Lost in Transit
5. Settling In with Plaque Build Up
6. The Power of Potatoes
7. Potatorama
8. A Slight Detour
9. New Food and Friends
10. A Miraflores Stroll
11. Let’s Go Cusco
12. Church and Cheering
13. The Top Spud Comes to Town
14. Down Streets and Over Squeaky Floors
15. A Taste of ‘Straya
16. Embracing the World Game
17. The Talented Señor Martinez
18. Defending the Reef
19. A Cooee for Cuy
20. The Potato Park
21. One Last Gutful
22. The Journey Home

Ashley’s time in Peru was funded through The Crawford Fund, a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on mobilising support for international agricultural research, with the intention of sustaining funding for international agricultural research into the future. His trip is just one of many study tours by journalists that the Fund has supported to learn and report on valuable international research.

To keep up with Ashley’s work, as well as all the latest news affecting the Australian horticulture industry, follow Good Fruit & Vegetables’ Twitter account @GoodFruitandVeg.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 12 June 2018 and 5 June 2018. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!