The potato of A Limia: cultivation, seed and market

The potato is the fundamental and most representative crop of A Limia. According to the socio-economic analysis carried by the website xinzodelimia.eu, the comarca specialises in a product with a designation of origin and livestock farming coexists with it in family holdings and modern farms ^[4]. At the Museo da Limia day in April 2018 one of the participants said that A Limia produces 90 % of Galician potatoes ^[3].

The Pataca de Galicia

"Pataca de Galicia" is a protected geographical indication (PGI) that highlights the excellence of potatoes grown in Galicia; it covers the species Solanum tuberosum in the Kennebec, Agria and Fina de Carballo varieties, intended for human consumption, and spans between 1,500 and 1,800 hectares a year ^[1]. The legislation was: recognition as a Galician Quality Product (1989), Specific Designation of Origin (1996) and PGI (2001), ratified by the Ministry in 2002 and entered in the European PGI register by Regulation (EC) 148/2007 ^[1]. The Kennebec, 40 to 80 mm, with yellow skin and white, fine, creamy flesh, is the only potato protected by this designation in the European Union ^[1]. The potato festival is held on the third Sunday of September in Coristanco, in A Coruña ^[1].

3rd Conversas na Taberna (2018)

The Museo Etnográfico da Limia devoted its third Conversas na Taberna (Saturday 7 April 2018) to the potato, with three voices from the three stages of the potato cycle: production, storage and processing ^[2]:

• Amador Díaz Penín (Patatas Ama), president of the Association of Potato Producers of A Limia, formed a few months earlier.
• Xosé Antón Gándara Alonso (Patatas y Cebollas Gándara), a wholesaler from Vilar de Santos.
• José Ángel Sotelo Castro (Patatas Fritas Guays), from the processing industry.

In front of about twenty attendees they discussed pricing policies (the product suffers low prices), the availability of land, scarce according to Sotelo, coexistence with the surroundings, irrigation and the threat of the "Guatemalan potato moth" (a pest that had already reached the country and could mean a two-year quarantine). Gándara stated that Limia potatoes are of excellent quality and pass more checks than any other, and that they only lack the looks of the French variety and a good marketing plan with government involvement. Amador Díaz highlighted the progress in organisation and announced a tuber fair in the comarca for November ^[3].

Seed potatoes in Xinzo

Before the table potato, Xinzo was a centre of seed potatoes and starch; see Propasi, AGA and the Feculera of Xinzo.

Links

• Gastronomy of A Limia
• Propasi, AGA and the Feculera of Xinzo
• Xinzo de Limia

Sources

1. «Pataca de Galicia», Wikipedia en galego (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pataca_de_Galicia
2. «A pataca centra as III Conversas na Taberna no Museo da Limia», Museo da Limia, 07/04/2018. https://museodalimia.com/a-pataca-centra-as-iii-conversas-na-taberna-no-museo-da-limia/
3. «A nosa pataca ten unha excelente calidade. Cómpre dicilo porque é a verdade», Museo da Limia, 09/04/2018. https://museodalimia.com/a-nosa-pataca-ten-unha-excelente-calidade-compre-dicilo-porque-e-a-verdade/
4. «Economía», xinzodelimia.eu (captura de Wayback). http://www.xinzodelimia.eu/economia.htm