The Northeast Organic/Sustainable Potato Project
The Northeast Organic/Sustainable Potato (NOSP) Project, funded by NE SARE, was dedicated to increasing the diversity and availability of high-quality tablestock potato varieties for Northeast organic/sustainable commercial growers and gardeners.
NOSPP consisted of a multi-year collaboration between Cornell University and NOFA-NY that provided growers with the opportunity to trial new and heritage varieties of potatoes. Dr. Keith Perry, who oversees the the NY State Foundation Seed Potato Program and Cornell Uihlein Laboratory and Farm, directed the project.
Project goals were to
- continue and expand trialing of promising potato varieties by interested growers.
- help growers develop best management practices for organic potato production.
- help growers develop methods to manage insect pests and diseases of potatoes -- with special emphasis on reducing risk of spread of tuber-borne disease when saving potato seed for replanting.
- help make high-quality seed potatoes more accessible and affordable to growers through facilitating seed-sharing networks for varieties not yet commercially available.
- assist in start-up of multiple "double-certified" (state certified and organically grown) seed potato enterprises in our region.
The funding for the project ended in 2012. Many thanks to the more than 110 growers who trialed potatoes with us! Follow the link under Resources on this page to find the project's final report. Also, check out photos of over 35 potato varieties here: http://www.ogrin.org/galleries/potato-varieties.
If you are interested in doing informal varietal trialing or are searching for varieties trialed by the project, please contact OGRIN.
