A Memorandum of Understanding between the James Hutton Institute and the Potato Research Institute of the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences was signed at last week’s Potatoes in Practice.

The document will promote an approach to sharing research techniques for breeding and developing new potato varieties, with a focus on high-quality pest and disease resistance.

The Hutton is currently the UK’s largest potato research centre – and home to the Commonwealth Potato collection of over 1,500 varieties and 80 species of the tuber.

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Meanwhile, the Gansu Academy’s potato research facilities took off recently when the Chinese government added the potato to the country’s official list of staple crops.

The academy, with breeding centres at stations in Huichuan and Yuzhong, has collected and preserved over 1,500 germplasm resources and has bred 50 varieties of the Longshu series of potatoes, holding a leading position in the country in terms of breeding high-starch and disease-resistant varieties.

The Longshu series potato varieties occupy more than half of the potato planting area in the province annually, with three of those varieties each accounting for more than one million acres of crop.