International Day of the Potato

Traditional food systems , reliant on staple crops such as wheat, rice, and maize, are becoming increasingly vulnerable due to rising temperatures, declining freshwater availability, and degraded soils. These crops, while historically vital to global food security , require extensive irrigation, large amounts of fertilizers, and longer growing periods, making them more susceptible to climate volatility. As a result, governments, researchers, and farmers worldwide must rethink approach to food security by prioritizing crops that can thrive in uncertain conditions while maintaining high productivity . The search for resilient alternatives is no longer a theoretical discussion—it is a necessity for ensuring long-term food stability .

Potatoes will play an increasingly important role in global food security in the coming decades. The potato crop is a food source that can help match the urgently needed requirements to transform current agri-food systems worldwide. A recently published paper in Potato Research suggests that the key to meeting this challenge is to produce more potatoes worldwide with the same or fewer resources and reduce crop losses all the way from the farm to the fork of the consumer. Over the last decades, potato production and consumption have grown in nearly every continent, with around 1.3 billion people now eating potatoes as a staple food. Potato production is shifting towards developing countries with the highest production increases observed particularly in Asia, but also in Africa. “The challenge is how to increase the global potato supply without increasing inequality or generating negative environmental impacts,” said André Devaux, an agricultural scientist at the International Potato...