It’s only early days, but Tim Heysen is excited about boldly going where no grower has gone before.

Together with growers in the south east, southern Murraylands and the Mallee regions of South Australia, the Kalangadoo grower is playing a small part in an extensive three-year project examining the effect of groundwater on nine varieties of potato crops.

The project Impact of groundwater quality on the management of centre pivot-grown potato crops (PT16001) is a strategic levy investment under the Hort Innovation Fresh Potato and Potato Processing Funds which will study site and plant conditions to see how they affect the growth and health conditions of plants.

The long-term goal of the project is to increase productivity and profitability across the state by examining each piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is potato production, and then putting in place the best practices and strategies for the ultimate aim of creating higher yielding potato crops.

In Tim’s case at Kalangadoo, about 50 kilometres north of Mount Gambier, the project is studying his Ranger Russet and Innovator potatoes and analysing the impact that groundwater at the property is having on crops – including the many dissolved salts in the water.

To read more about this new project examining the effect of groundwater on nine varieties of potato crops, read the latest edition of Grower Success Stories – Real results from the potato R&D levy.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 13 March 2018.