Commercial Production Results as a Basis for Crop Rotation Decisions

Abstract

The majority of the potatoes produced in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States are processed into frozen potato products. Processing companies contract for production prior into the growing season and are increasingly dictating cultural practices that are acceptable for producer to use. One of the major practices that processors stipulate to growers is the frequency that potatoes can occur in the rotation. Many production units have been in cultivated crop production only since the late 1940’s and some as recently as the 1970’s. Total cropping history is available for soils of similar classification with different crop sequences. These can be identified and historical results obtained. A summary of the commercial data base used by the processors and a review of data from a large, corporate farm demonstrate the effect of previous cropping history on potato production.

1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers.