China: Scientists protect potatoes against climate emergency

With climate change having an increasingly significant impact on food crops, the industry is trying to reverse the situation through science and technological innovation. In this regard, China, as the world’s largest producer and supplier of potatoes, is implementing a number of strategies to resist or adapt to the ever-increasing temperatures through a new approach.

A team of research scientists from the International Potato Center, led by molecular biologist Li Jieping, is developing methodologies to make potatoes climate-resistant. To do this, the team is growing potatoes in a small pot, introducing them to high-temperature conditions that they predict reflect the inevitable trajectory of climate change.

China’s climate-resistant potatoes weigh only about 0.13 kg, just half the weight of the average potato in the country. Li and his team have been working on climate resistance for three years. Their main goal is to improve heat resistance, as potatoes are sensitive to drastic temperature fluctuations. They found that heat exposure accelerated growth, but negatively affected overall performance.

As a consequence of this whole paradigm, there is a growing demand for potato varieties that are less susceptible to temperature changes. And this would be one of them, although it is not yet clear when they will be available on the global market.