For the purposes of this Part:
(a) "Field" means the entire area occupied by one variety and one seed source of potatoes and which is covered by one inspection report. Fences, ditches, highways or strips planted to other crops may run through the field provided the separation is not excessive and other conditions are similar.
(b) "Seed Lot" means a unit of tubers or plants increased clonally from a single source of tubers or plants. If two or more seed lots are co-mingled in the field or in storage, seed lots shall be classified at the lowest acceptable seed class or shall be rejected from certification as appropriate.
(a) Limited Generation.
All certified seed shall be produced in a limited generation production scheme. Seed lots are limited to a maximum of six (6) generations of propagation as follows:
CLASS GENERATION Certified G1 Certified G2 Certified G3 Certified G4 Certified G5 Certified G6 Generation numbers shall increase with years of production from the original seed source. Certified class seed shall be downgraded automatically one generation each year. The generation year for certified class seed shall be printed on tags by the Certifying Agency. When disease tolerances for certified class seed lots are exceeded, the lots shall be rejected for certification. Seed lots shall originate from in vitro culture in which all plantlets have tested free from potato viruses A, M, S, X, Y (all may cause the mosaic disease), and leaf roll; Potato Spindle tuber viroid; Corynebacterium sepedonicum (causes the ring rot disease); and Erwinia carotovora (causes the soft rot and black leg diseases). Propagation of seed lots from the Uihlein Farm at Cornell University or equivalent sources shall be limited to six (6) years with a Generation 5 (G5) lot originating from outside New York State being the last generation eligible for planting. A three-year exemption shall be permitted at the discretion of the Certifying Agency for numbered selections from breeding programs or for named varieties for which pathogen-tested seed lots do not exist or are not available.
(b) Certified - Uihlein Generation 1.
Seed obtained directly from the Uihlein Farm of Cornell University will be eligible for planting.
(c) Certified - Uihlein Generation 2.
Seed one year removed from the Uihlein Farm of Cornell University and showing a performance in a winter test acceptable to the Certifying Agency will be eligible for planting.
(d) Certified - Uihlein Generation 3.
Seed two years removed from the Uihlein Farm of Cornell University and showing a performance in a winter test acceptable to the Certifying Agency will be eligible for planting.
(e) Certified - Generations 1 through 6.
(1) Foundation class seed meeting New York Blue Tag or Yellow Tag grade requirements originating from New York, other states or Canada or,
(2) Certified class seed meeting New York Blue Tag or Yellow Tag grade requirements originating from New York, other states, or Canada as evidenced by an inspection performed by the State or Federal-State Inspection Service, that have passed a winter test acceptable to the Certifying Agency or,
(3) New York Certified or Foundation seed meeting New York White Tag Grade requirements as evidenced by an inspection performed by the State or Federal-State Inspection Service, that have passed a winter test acceptable to the Certifying Agency or,
(4) Potatoes planted by New York certified seed growers utilizing planting stocks of their own production that are direct progeny from eligible planting stocks and have passed a winter test acceptable to the Certifying Agency shall be eligible for planting.
(f) The Certifying Agency may reject as planting stocks any seed lot which in its opinion would be likely to produce potatoes unsuitable for certification.
(g) Records Required.
Each grower shall keep a record of persons from whom foundation and/or certified seed was purchased. These records shall be available for examination by the Certifying Agency or New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets representative upon request. Such records shall include: variety, quantity, field number(s) and other pertinent certification documents.107.3 RESTRICTIONS APPLYING TO THE PRODUCTION OF CERTIFIED CLASS SEED
(a) Varieties.
Varieties must meet the approval of the Certifying Agency to be eligible for certification.
(b) Land Requirements.
Seed potatoes shall not be planted on land where ring rot infected potatoes were produced the previous year.
(c) Separation of Fields.
Fields for inspection must be separated from each other and from other potatoes by a vacant space of at least one planting row; six feet is recommended.
(d) Disease In Nearby Fields.
Any portion of a field entered for certification which is within 200 feet of potatoes showing 10 percent or more virus disease or more than five percent leaf roll, will be rejected.
(e) Seed grown on farms where bacterial ring rot is found during the current or previous season is not eligible for designation as "Certified-Uihlein Generation 1", "Certified-Uihlein Generation 2", or "Certified-Uihlein Generation 3".
(f) Inspection Procedures.
Field and bin inspections shall be conducted on the basis of a visual observation of sample plants and tubers under growing conditions and during storage.
A minimum of two (2) field inspections shall be made during the growing season with a visual examination being made of a minimum of 100 plants for each planted acre. Inspections of bins and storage areas shall include a visual inspection of at least 100 stored tubers for each harvested acre.
Certification shall not extend to diseases which cannot be observed on the basis of a visual inspection of plants and tubers.
(g) Tolerance at Field Inspection.
Fields are to be kept rogued and are subject to inspection at any time. Upon inspection seed lots shall show not more than the following tolerances.
Factor First Inspection
Percent2nd or later Inspection
PercentMosaics 3.00 1.00 Leaf Roll 3.00 1.00 Other Virus 1.00 0.50 Spindle Tuber 1.00 0.10 Total Virus and Spindle Tuber 4.00 2.00 Fusarium1 and Verticillium Wilt 2.00 5.00 Varietal Mixture 0.25 Ring Rot2 0.00 0.00 1 Fusarium wilt is understood to mean the diseases caused by Fusarium solani var. eumartii and Fusarium oxysporum.
2 Ring rot found at any time in bin or graded stock will cause rejection.
(h) Interpretation of Tolerances.
Seed lots which comply with the provisions of this Standard and which are found by inspection of an adequate representative sample to contain no more than the specified tolerance of plants or tubers showing visible symptoms of the diseases and defects mentioned will be approved for certification; however, no assurance is implied that these diseases and defects may not be present in a latent form or in greater amounts or even that the inspection of larger samples might not reveal the presence of amounts in excess of stated tolerances. Furthermore, with special reference to ring rot, certification implies that both the growing crop and the harvested lot have been inspected and that no evidence of ring rot has been found, but does not imply that the lot is absolutely free from this disease. Precautions always should be taken to guard against the increase or spread of this disease.(i) Roguing.
The grower is responsible for roguing all diseased and abnormal plants that appear during the growing season. Early removal is extremely important in preventing the spread of virus diseases; both the vines and tubers should be carried from the field.
(j) Florida Test.
One or more representative samples from each seed lot shall be submitted from each field for planting in the Florida Test plot. The number of tubers required to be submitted per sample shall be determined by the Certifying Agency. Tubers selected for the Florida Test shall not be smaller than 1 1/2 inches nor larger than 2 1/4 inches.
Florida Test Results shall not show a total in excess of five percent virus (mosaics, leaf roll, other virus) and spindle tuber viroid.
Seed potatoes shipped before winter test readings are available will be certified if field, harvest and/or bin readings are within required tolerance.(k) Unsuitable Fields.
The Certifying Agency may deny certification to any field or seed lot which, in its opinion, would be likely to produce potatoes unsuitable for certified seed stock. Consideration for denial may be given to unfavorable factors, such as unsuitable cultural conditions, weeds, chemical damage and high aphid population.
107.4 TUBER REQUIREMENTS - GRADES
(a) All classes of Certified seed potatoes shall be graded in conformity to New York Certified Seed Grades as designated by the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, and as jointly approved by the College Seed Committee and the Board of Directors of the New York Seed Improvement Cooperative, Inc.
(b) All certified seed potatoes shall be graded in conformity with the requirements of blue, yellow or white tag grades.
(1) Blue Tag Grade.
Blue tag grade shall meet the requirements of U.S. No. 1 Seed Potatoes. Reference, "United States Standard for Grades of Seed Potatoes", effective March 6, 1987, United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing Services, Washington, D.C. This document is available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. It is available for public inspection and copying in the Counsel's Office or in the office of the Director of Plant Industry, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Capital Plaza, One Winners Circle, Albany, New York 12235.
(2) Yellow Tag Grade.
Yellow tag grade consists of potatoes identified as certified seed of one variety which meet the following requirements:
(i) fairly well shaped;
(ii) free from: freezing injury, blackheart, late blight tuber rot, nematode or tuber moth injury, bacterial ring rot, soft rot or wet breakdown;
(iii) free from serious damage caused by: Hollow heart, growth cracks, dirt and/or other foreign material;
(iv) free from damage by sprouts and growth cracks and any other cause;
(v) size: minimum diameter, unless otherwise specified, shall not be less than 1 1/2 inches; and maximum size, unless otherwise specified, shall not exceed 3 1/4 inches in diameter or 12 ounces in weight;
(vi) factors not affecting grade: brown discoloration following skinning, dried stems, flattened depressed areas (showing no underlying flesh discoloration), greening, skin checks, and sunburn do not affect seed quality, and shall not be scored against the grade. In addition, sprouts shall not be scored against New York Yellow Tag grade, after March 31 of the year following production; and
(vii) tolerances: in order to allow for variations incident to proper grading and handling in the foregoing grade, the following tolerances, by weight, are provided as specified.(a) For Defects:
(1) Twenty percent for potatoes in any lot which are damaged by growth cracks.
(2) Twenty percent for potatoes in any lot which are seriously damaged by hollow heart.
(3) Twenty percent for potatoes in any lot with sprouts over one inch in length prior to April 1.
(4) Twenty percent for potatoes which fail to meet the remaining requirements of the grade including therein not more than ten percent seriously damaged and further provided that included in these tolerances not more than the following percentages shall be allowed for the defects listed:
Percent Bacterial Ring Rot 0.00 Serious damage by dry or moist type Fusarium tuber rot 2.00 Late blight tuber rot 1.00 Nematode or tuber moth injury 0.00 Varietal mixture 0.25 Frozen, soft rot or wet breakdown3 0.50 3Individual containers may contain up to two times the specified tolerance or 1.0 percent, provided, that enroute or at destination, an additional 0.5 percent or a total of one percent, shall be allowed for potatoes which are frozen or affected by soft rot or wet breakdown.(b) For size:
(b) For size:
(1) Undersize. Three percent for potatoes in any lot which fail to meet the required or specified minimum size except five percent shall be allowed when the minimum size specified is 2 1/4 inches or more in diameter or five ounces or more in weight.
(2) Oversize. Ten percent for any potatoes in any lot which fail to meet the required or specified maximum size.(3) White Tag Grade.
White tag grade shall consist of potatoes identified as certified seed of one variety which meet the following requirements:
(i) free from: freezing injury, blackheart, late blight tuber rot, nematode or tuber moth injury, bacterial ring rot, soft rot or wet breakdown.
(ii) tolerances: in order to allow for variations incident to proper grading and handling in the foregoing grade, the following tolerances, by weight, are provided as specified.
Percent Bacterial Ring Rot 0.00 Serious damage by dry or moist type Fusarium tuber rot 2.00 Late blight tuber rot 1.00 Nematode or tuber moth injury 0.00 Varietal mixture 0.25 Frozen, soft rot or wet breakdown4 0.50 4 Individual containers may contain up to two times the specified tolerance or 1.0 percent. Provided, that enroute or at destination, an additional 0.5 percent or a total of one percent, shall be allowed for potatoes which are frozen or affected by soft rot or wet breakdown.
Tolerances and definitions of damage or serious damage for other physical defects and size requirements to be determined by agreement between buyer and seller.(c) Definitions
(1) "Damage" means any defect (except sunburn, greening, flattened depressed areas, external brown surface discoloration following skinning, dried stems and dirt) or any combination of defects which detracts from the internal or external appearance of the potato, or any external defect which cannot be removed without a loss of more than five percent of the total weight of the potato.
(2) "Serious damage" means any defect (except sunburn, greening, flattened depressed areas, external brown surface discoloration following skinning, growth cracks and dried stems) or any combination of defects which seriously detracts from the internal or external appearance of the potato, or any external defect which cannot be removed without a loss of more than 10 percent of the total weight of the potato.
(3) "Serious damage by dirt" means that an individual potato is badly caked with dirt.
(4) "Damage by sprouts" means any potato having sprouts over one (1) inch in length.
(5) For other definitions, application of tolerances, sampling procedures and size determination, see United States Standards for Grades of Seed Potatoes.
(a) Inspection And Certification.
(1) No potatoes shall be sold or represented as certified seed potatoes unless they have been officially inspected by the Certifying Agency and inspection certificates or reports have been issued showing that such potatoes have been produced under and met applicable field and bin inspection standards and requirements, and conform to all other certification standards and requirements as provided herein, including grade standards for the grade under which the seed is to be sold.
(2) Field and bin inspections shall be made by the Certifying Agency and grading inspections shall be made by the Federal-State Inspection Service. No grading inspection shall be made or grading certificates issued until both a field inspection and separate bin inspection certificate or report have first been issued by the certifying agency.
(3) No person shall sell, offer for sale, have in possession with intent to sell, advertise, label or otherwise represent any potatoes as certified seed or as being of a grade prescribed in these rules; or use in connection with the sale of seed potatoes any word, phrase or designation which suggests that they have been inspected, certified, or graded unless such potatoes have been inspected, graded and certified under this chapter, and conform to the grades specified in the grading certificate.
(b) Containers and Tags.
All Certified seed potatoes shall be sold and delivered in new containers, or containers approved by the Certifying Agency. Containers packed with potatoes meeting these standards shall be tagged or marked "New York Certified Seed Blue Tag Grade" or "New York Certified Seed Yellow Tag Grade" or "New York Certified Seed White Tag Grade", as the case may be, and shall bear tags furnished by the Certifying Agency showing the grower's name.
(c) Required Inspection.
All New York Blue Tag Grade and Yellow Tag Grade seed stock sold or offered for sale shall be inspected by the Federal-State Inspection Service. If the potatoes do not meet the grade as marked, the tags or markings shall be removed unless potatoes are regraded and pass inspection.
(d) Bulk Shipments.
Bulk shipments meeting Certification Standards shall be identified as New York Certified Seed Blue Tag Grade or New York Certified Seed Yellow Tag Grade, or New York Certified Seed White Tag Grade, as the case may be, and shall be accompanied by a Bulk Transfer Certificate issued by the Certifying Agency.
(e) Storage Requirements.
Potatoes stored in a public storehouse shall not be sold as certified seed if ring rot is found or known to be present in potatoes in nearby bins. Sections of a public storehouse which are separated by solid walls or partitions shall be regarded as separate storehouses.
(f) Limitations For New York White Tag Grade.
New York White Tag Grade shall be sold or offered for sale only within the State of New York. It is not eligible as planting stock for recertification unless it meets the requirements of the grade as evidenced by an inspection performed by the Federal-State Inspection Service.
(g) Records Required.
Each grower shall keep a record of persons to whom certified seed was sold. These records shall be available for examination by the official Certifying Agency or New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets representative upon request. Such records shall include: variety, quantity, field number(s) and other pertinent certification documents.
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