Food System Sustainability Relies on Potatoes

Potato researchers and agribusiness owners are slightly concerned regarding the production of food under the climate changes taking place currently. Hence, they are looking through the food system to find other descendants of the potato family. Wild relatives of potatoes are genetically related to potatoes that we as consumers grow and consume and they contain valuable traits that can be built into consumer varieties to help ensure reliable yields and high-quality potatoes for shoring up food and nutrition security. Although many crop relatives are not edible, their valuable traits mean we should preserve this diversity for future use to strengthen our food systems. 

That is why the Crop Trust and International Potato Center (CIP) recently hosted ” using potato wild relatives in pre-breeding” to discuss the current state of work with crop wild relatives and how these important potato species can be used to support global food systems. the two-day panel included a variety of researchers of the private and public sectors who are combined their efforts to ensure food production keeps pace with global population growth. The two-day panel included a variety of researchers of the private and public sectors who are combined their efforts to ensure food production keeps pace with global population growth.

Article by: Hari Yellina (Orchard Tech)