03 Breed

In order to satisfy the global need for food, it is wise to expand yields on existing agricultural land without harming the environment. Our breeding processes focus on new varieties of a high quality, with high disease resistance and high yields per square metre. We are developing potato varieties which can grow and thrive in difficult weather or soil conditions. This requires innovations, the ability to take the lead, and the use of high-tech applications in breeding. This year, we are concentrating on several important steps.

We are developing new varieties all the time, while keeping a keen eye on the future. We see more challenges with respect to climate change and deteriorations in agricultural land. But water scarcity, a loss of biodiversity, fewer crop protection agents and a shortage of suitable land are also issues which have to be faced. Simultaneously, the demand for potatoes will continue to increase as a result of the substantial growth of the world's population. This requires new potato varieties which are more robust and also provide high yields with lower input levels, for example the reduced use of water, fertiliser and pesticides.

Over the past few years, HZPC has made substantial investments in the further improvement of the selection process. Marker-driven breeding, in particular, allows us to develop new varieties of a much higher quality and much more quickly than before. As a result, we start each year with double the number of plants compared to five years ago. Right at the start of the breeding process, i.e. just five weeks after sowing, we can demonstrate specific characteristics such as virus resistance and sustainable aspects. This is a revolutionary acceleration compared to the four to eight years that used to be required. Thanks to the improved selection of characteristics, HZPC has applied the usual tetraploid breeding method to develop several interesting potato varieties for our growers and customers. This year, HZPC and STET are producing small quantities of these new potato varieties with a view to substantially increasing the corresponding acreage in the coming years.

Around ten years ago, in 2011, HZPC took its first steps in the context of hybrid potato breeding. There were high ambitions: in 2021 we wanted to plant the first prototype hybrid potato with a yield of 85% in our trial fields, with a view to introducing this to the market in 2025. We are exceptionally proud that we have been able to exceed these expectations ten years since the start of the development of hybrid potato varieties.

In 2020, we planted tubers from seed in various trial fields in Kenya, France and the Netherlands. We compared these hybrid potatoes in 2021 with our standard varieties Sagitta and Taurus. This showed that, based on the average of all trial fields, we obtained as much as 96% yield from hybrid seeds. This was far above our ambition of 85% yield. It is a huge milestone and a fantastic performance!

In the coming years, we will focus on the further improvement of hybrid varieties, for example in relation to virus resistance. We are still on track to write history in 2025 with the introduction of the first hybrid potato variety on the African and Indian market. We expect to be able to introduce these hybrid varieties to other markets too between 2030 and 2035.

Hybrid potato varieties enable us to contribute towards food security in locations which can be challenging in terms of logistics. Seed is simply easier to transport and in larger quantities. The hybrid process also allows us to breed varieties that can cope in specific climates quicker and easier.

Since 2018, HZPC has been working with Averis Seeds, University of Utrecht and TU Delft in the research project Flight to Vitality. This aims to develop a method for measuring and forecasting the germination power of seed potato lots. An objective check is needed to measure germination power and gain insights into the factors that could impact upon germination power. This has never been realised before and could therefore constitute a significant breakthrough for seed potato growing. With this expertise, we can combat waste and improve the quality of the seed potatoes supplied.

At the end of 2021, we finalised research into the microbiome (a combination of fungi and bacteria) and metabolites (which supply energy and building materials to plants). This microbiome research established a relationship between the bacteria and fungi in seed potatoes and the corresponding germination power. We cannot yet, however, identify differences between lots of the same variety on the basis of the microbiome. When it comes to metabolites, there is a clear relationship between the content and the vitality of the seed potatoes. On the basis of measuring around 7,000 metabolites, we are now able to rank seed potato lots according to vitality. We now have to validate this in practice.

Flight to Vitality has incurred a slight delay and the project will therefore continue into 2022. TU Delft is working on creating integrated models based on all measurements.

With gene-editing, potato breeding can be accelerated further with the development of absolute resistant varieties. Gene-editing is thus a vital element in the fight against global hunger. Simultaneously, we are unable to apply gene-editing in the EU because it is considered to be the same as genetically modified organisms (GMO).

HZPC sees gene-editing as one of the options for providing a significant contribution towards the sustainability aims of the European Green Deal. This focuses on economic growth without exhausting raw materials and, in turn, concerns for man and providing adequate food for people. India now permits gene-editing and the United Kingdom has opened the door a little wider. Simultaneously, the European Union seems to be preparing to embrace gene-editing in the future. HZPC is delighted with this development.

Once you have been bitten by the potato bug, you can never get rid of it. I grew up on a farm. When I was three, I played with potatoes; when I was nine I walked through the potato fields with my dad. He was a seed potato farmer and is still an enthusiastic amateur grower. So, you can appreciate that as a potato breeder I feel completely at home with HZPC. I am ambitious and want to achieve something. The fact that I can do this with a product I really love is just amazing.

When I started working with HZPC seven years ago, I was fascinated by whatever was going on in Research & Development (R&D). I thought I knew a lot about potatoes but I learnt so much more in those first years. As a breeder, I have a special role within R&D; you cover a wide range of issues and are involved in discussions about the corresponding solutions. The variety is what makes my work fun; one day I have my hands in clay soil or in the sand in Egypt, harvesting potatoes, and the next I am writing a project proposal for discovering new things. It is a fantastic balance.

The most important driver in my work is developing varieties which can deliver a good yield with very little input. As a chain, we must work towards a much more sustainable growing process which uses less water, reduced levels of chemicals, and less nitrogen. As breeders, we work on solutions for making seed potato growing future-proof.

This takes time but simultaneously the call for more sustainable varieties from our customers is getting louder. Over the past few years, HZPC has invested heavily in R&D. With that money, over the past ten years, we have created the ‘engine’ for variety development; we have developed the instruments, laboratory tests, and infrastructure that is required to create good varieties. Now that that engine is running well, we can use the next ten years to pluck the fruits of our labour.

A great example is the variety introduction of the HOM-13-8236. This is leading the completely new generation of potato varieties that have great yields and can be grown with little use of chemicals. This saves the grower time, money and diesel. Within a year, the first fries will be made using the HOM-13-8236. I have high expectations for the variety even though it has a few limitations, i.e. there is no resistance to wart disease and the variety has a short dormancy period. You have to turn on mechanical cooling in time in orderto store this variety successfully. Over the next few generations, however, we will take steps to resolve these deficiencies.

In the past, customers might have said ‘this variety is not good enough’, but now that good sustainability features are becoming increasingly important, that has changed. Customers are more willing to make concessions. On the road to a more sustainable future for the potato crop, it is also vital that we join hands across the chain, whether this concerns breeders, growers, or processors. It is only then that we can make the changes that are necessary for the future. As far as I’m concerned, the future is looking rosy: we have already made significant progress and, over the coming years, we will create new potato varieties that are good for our growers and processors.