The humble potato is undergoing a genetic revolution. Here’s how and what that means.
Solynta’s potatoes are at the vanguard of a breeding project, launched almost two decades ago, that has shaken up the world of potato research. They are products of hybrid breeding , a technology that has improved many crops beyond breeders’ wildest dreams — but not most commercially grown potatoes, due to a quirk in their biology. As a result, potato breeding is so slow that people today are still eating many of the same cultivars their great-grandparents did a century ago. Experts say Solynta has cracked that problem, which helped lay the groundwork for a revolution in potato breeding. Hybrid breeding will enable breeders to create new varieties faster and more systematically, said Shelley Jansky, a retired plant breeder at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. New potato cultivars could better withstand diseases, heat, drought, or salt. Yields could increase. Boutique varieties could have more interesting tastes, shape...