Mark Pavek News Today

KENNEWICK — Research into potato pests and disease, new labor rules in Washington and innovations in the potato industry will be among the topics covered at the Washington-Oregon Potato Conference Jan. 23 through 25 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.

As spring gets weirder, warmer and less stable, water supplies, ecosystems and agriculture are getting out of whack.

At their 400-acre Othello research farm, WSU scientists study seed quality, new varieties, pests, and growing practices to help Northwest potatoes thrive and become better French fries, chips, and tots.

Heat takes a toll on Columbia Basin potato harvest

Jake Blauer joins WSU’s potato research group Jake Blauer is the newly hired post-harvest potato physiologist at Washington State University. Blauer says that being raised on a farm, seeing global hunger challenges, working in potato processing and seeing the ways storage, distribution, and quality can be improved, all inspired him to pursue a doctoral degree in Molecular Plant Science at WSU. His mentor was WSU potato physiologist Rick Knowles, whose retirement in 2020 opened the door fo...

February 26, 2021 By Brian C. Clark When Jake Blauer lived in Brazil, he says he saw a lot of potatoes, “but they were often green.” Blauer is the newly hired post-harvest potato physiologist at Washington State University. What green potatoes meant to Blauer was that they had been improperly stored. A farmer can grow a great crop of potatoes but if the crop is not managed properly after harvest, there can be significant loses, resulting in poor quality and reduced access to a nutritious en...