Get a taste of new talented Robust potato cultivars

Summary

In the Netherlands the organic sector keeps growing, but organic potato production is lagging behind. This is due to the relatively high disease pressure from Phytophthora infestans, which causes foliage and tuber late blight. For organic potato growers this disease still forms a major cropping risk.
In the potato breeding programme Bioimpuls, the Louis Bolk Institute and Wageningen UR are working together with breeding companies and farmer-breeders to develop robust cultivars that are resistant to Phytophthora. Thanks to these new cultivars, organic growers now have more chance of yield security. The next step is to collaborate with organic wholesalers and retailers to make sure that the new cultivars reach the shop shelves and consumers’ plates. In the Netherlands, the organic market has already accepted new cultivars such as Bionica, Sarpo Mira and Carolus, but other cultivars are still relatively unknown, and additional promising cultivars will become available for the European market in the near future. Together, these cultivars will offer a complete assortment of boiling, baking and multi-purpose potatoes in various colours and shapes. The new talents are presented in this brochure.