Storage: Alternatives arise for sprout inhibitors, fogging, mobile apps

摘要

Give Nora Olsen spuds to study, and she's happy.Give her a new chemical to test on those potatoes, and she's ecstatic."We haven't had a new sprout inhibitor for some time," she said. "To have a brand new chemistry, it's very exciting."Olsen, a potato specialist with the University of Idaho's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Research and Extension Center in Kimberly, has spent the past nine years testing SmartBlock, one of several developments affecting storage technology thisseason.Developed at Washington State University and distributed by Amvac Chemical, SmartBlock earned its FDA registration in February and landed on that agency's Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list in the process. The chemical has since been applied to commercial storages with positive results, Olsen said, adding that she expects SmartBlock to have its biggest impact internationally, in countries skeptical toward the industry-leading sprout inhibitor, chlorpropham (CIPC).