A study tour of potato, carrot, and onion producing areas in Idaho, Washington State, and Oregon as well as potato production areas in the Netherlands and Scotland was undertaken by an Australian group consisting of growers, chemicals distributors, and researchers in July-August 2001.

The group inspected numerous farms, processing plants, chemical distributors, machinery manufacturers, and research farms.

Some of the main points of interest were:

• The large scale production of potatoes and the equipment used to facilitate planting and harvesting operations that need to be done in limited time
• Most of the USA potato industry based on Russett Burbank
• Differences in standards demanded for fresh washed potatoes between Australian and American consumers
• The USA potato industry based on stored potatoes
• Widespread use of fertigation and chemigation
• Increased use of remote control of irrigation systems
• The widespread use of large machines to apply fertilisers with air booms and variable rate applications according to soil analysis
• Use of regular infra-red aerial photographs as an aid to monitoring crop health
• High standards of seed health maintained by regular inspection and testing of seed potato crops in USA and Europe