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Seed potato certification is managed by the potato industry through the New Zealand Seed Potato Certification Authority.
The Authority acts as the official and independent agent of the potato industry for the certification of seed tuber potato crops. The programmes operated by the Authority certify that cultivars are as true to type as possible and meet pest and disease tolerances through visual inspection of crops and harvested tubers. Participation in the scheme is voluntary, as there is no compulsion for vendors, proprietors or agents of a seed tuber production venture to use the services of the Authority.
The Authority establishes the seed quality standards that must be met within its certifications schemes, documents the rules (PDF) that must be adhered to in order to obtain certification, authorises and contracts inspection and administration services, manages a dispute resolution process, and operates industry education and quality improvement activities.
Seed Certification Authority notices
Notices and newsletter from the New Zealand Seed Potato Certification Authority are listed below - click on the link to download.
Seed potato training day
The seed potato training day on 26 November 2009 was both informative and entertaining according to feedback received from participants. Organised by the Seed Potato Certification Authority's Manager, Evan Johnston of AsureQuality, the programme covered presentations on NZGAP, virus leaf sampling, and the Potato Calculator. A significant part of the programme also focussed on hands on exploration of the www.potatoesnz.co.nz, MAFBNZ, and NZGAP websites in one of Lincoln University's computer suites.
Registration with NZGAP (and subsequent approval) is a new requirement for seed potato growers, and Evan Johnston explained the procedure of becoming an approved supplier under the programme. Cyril Hickman discussed the process for taking leaf samples for markets requiring virus additional declarations. Variety agents are now required to collect leaf samples from all certified G2 planted crops for virus testing. Jeremy Carter presented the new on-line version of the Potato Calculator. The Potato Calculator is a potato growing decision support tool developed by Potatoes NZ and CropLogic, and its potential for use by seed potato growers was explained. Stephen Ogden led a tour through several websites of relevance to seed potato growers, in particular spending time reviewing resources available on the Potatoes New Zealand website, such as the weather service, psyllid information materials and trapping data, and how to easily filter and sort the spreadsheet of certified seed entries which now replaces the booklet.
Despite some worries that the prospect of spending an afternoon "in the classroom" may be offputting, there was a great response from the growers who turned up with a lot of positive comments.
History of Seed Potato Certification The Seed Potato Certification Authority has been responsible for seed potato certification since 1988. The Authority was established in that year by the Potato Sector of the New Zealand Vegetable and Potato Growers' Federation following the repeal of the Potato Growing Industry Act.
Seed potato certification began in New Zealand in 1927, with the Department of Agriculture operating a trial scheme involving 11 varieties and 190 acres planted in Canterbury. The trial was a success and the scheme opened to entries from Southland, Otago and Canterbury in 1928. The Department continued to operate the field and tuber inspection service until 1971 when the Department determined that tuber inspection was less important than field health, and ceased its tuber inspection service. The Potato Board, set up in the 1950s to stabilise the potato growing industry, took responsibility for the tuber inspection service from 1973 onwards.
In 1985, under the Government policy to shed services where there were identifiable commercial beneficiaries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries withdrew from seed potato certification services entirely. As described in the detailed and highly insightful review of "The History of Potato Seed Certification in New Zealand 1927-2000 (PDF) " (H B Maunder, 2005): "A splendid record of nurture and co-operation by dedicated departmental field officers over a period of 58 years had come to an end".
 The Potato Board assumed responsibility for the entire seed potato certification service in 1986, but in 1988 the Government repealed the Potato Growing Industry Act. This legislative change left the potato industry without a body to administer and operate seed potato certification and without funding. The Vegetable Growers' Federation stepped in, offering to join with potato growers and form a new representative body – the New Zealand Vegetable and Potato Growers' Federation, which then established the Seed Potato Certification Authority.
Perhaps the most significant change since 1988 has been the Seed Potato Certification Review (PDF), conducted by the industry in 2005. The terms of reference of the review were:
- to review the current Seed Potato Certification Scheme operations, procedures and rules with the aim of identifying any deficiencies, improvements or alternative processes that could be implemented to improve the Scheme;
- to consider components (e.g., Cultivar production, transportation, tuber treatments etc) that impact on certification but are currently outside the rules of the Scheme.
The review produced several recommendations for change:
- Review / merge operational and procedural manuals
- Inspection of high grade seed
- Develop staff skill proficiencies
- Registration of all participants
- Separation of PCN and seed certification applications
- Fresh Produce Approved Supplier Scheme (Now 'New Zealand Gap') not a requirement
- Integration of "Open" and "PT" schemes
- Improved education / information transfer
- Five improvements recommended through benchmarking of the NZ schemes against 3 international schemes
- Accreditation of facilities producing nucleus product
- Standardisation of certification labelling
- Leaf sampling of higher generation crops
- Aphid standard for field inspection
- Publish "guidelines" booklet for packaging, storage & transport
- Labeling all 1st generation and farm saved seed
- Implementation of a grower tuber inspection system
- Diagnostic laboratory accreditation
Many of these recommendations are being progressively adopted by the Authority. The main change to date has been to align the disease tolerances of the two pathogen tested schemes into one set of "pyramid scheme" disease tolerances.
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Membership of the Authority
The Potato Product Group is responsible for the appointment of members and staff to the Authority, and its financial servicing. The Authority consists of seven members each serving a term of three years. Elected members are representatives from Processors, Growers and Merchants. A grower chairman is voted into the chair each year. Members may be re-elected. Secretarial services are provided to the Authority by the Potato Product Group of Horticulture New Zealand.
Andy Innes (Chair)
Ph 03 302 2868
Mobile 027 432 7073
Ron Gall (Secretary)
Horticulture New Zealand
P O Box 10232
Wellington
Ph 04 472 3795
Fax 04 471 2861
Mobile 027 446 6838
Bharat Bhana
Pukekohe
Ph 09 238 0015
Fax 09 238 7248
Mobile 027 482 8305
David Ryan
Ph 03 687 4070
Mobile 027 496 6041
Ian Corbett
Ph 06 328 9712
Fax 06 328 9717
Mobile 027 444 4858
Chris Nicholson
Ph 09 233 4892
Mobile 027 498 1764
John Smith
Ph 03 615 7150
Mobile 027 432 4294
John Stanley
Ph 03 313 2060
Mobile 029 918 0419
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