By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
Potato growers from across the country gathered in Springlake in mid-July for the Texas Potato Breeding and Variety Development Program Field Day.
Roughly 50 people attended this year’s event hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Bruce Barrett Farms. Attendees were able to view plantings from each variety grown and discussed ongoing research in the field.
The main goal of the program is to grow new potato varieties, according to Dr. Isabel Vales, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research potato breeder and program leader.
The program has the potential to provide new products to specialty potato companies across the country.
“We work in different market classes,” Vales said in an interview with AgriLife Today. “The fresh market russets are very important, followed by the chippers.”
Vales said the program is known for developing several strains of the Russet Norkotah variety, including the long-appreciated strain, No. 278.
“Vanguard Russet is our latest release,” she said. “It is a blocky, attractive potato that we have great hopes for. We also have another russet variety with pink eyes and yellow flesh, but we are still in the process of finding someone interested in promoting it.”
The program works to develop different specialty potatoes, varying in size, skin color and levels of antioxidants. Vales said they are in need of ambassadors to promote the new varieties, but some are not quite ready for release.
She noted one variety in particular could be beneficial for vegetarians.
“It almost looks like red meat,” she said.
Vales said they started cutting up the strand like pepperoni slices to put on pizzas. They nicknamed the variety “paparoni,” since papas means potatoes. That type of innovativeness is what Vales and her team are looking for.
“We need people who are creative and think outside of the box to start giving value to parameters like nutritional content, taste and originality,” she said.
Click here for more information on the program.