Celebrating Potato
The potato – wild roots, resilient future
Potatoes are everywhere. Fried, mashed, baked and boiled – they are part of everyday meals for people around the world. Part of our history, part of our culture. First tamed high in the Andes thousands of years ago, the potato has traveled across continents. Potato is now the world’s third most important food crop and staple for more than a billion people.
But securing the potato’s future could depend on the diversity left behind in its Andean home. Wild potato relatives carry valuable traits that can help breeders develop varieties able to withstand diseases, rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall.
Conserving this diversity and putting it to use gives farmers more options to meet the challenges ahead.
In October 2026, the global potato community comes together in Kenya for the 13th World Potato Congress, the first held in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Crop Trust is proud to support the Congress and, together with the International Potato Center (CIP), share how potato diversity from the Andes is moving to farmers’ fields in East Africa – helping build a more resilient future for one of the world’s most important crops.
Together, we can keep potato diversity working for the future.
UNTAMED: Wild potatoes, new possibilities
What can wild potatoes from the Andes offer farmers in East Africa? In our new UNTAMED
video series, meet the scientists and farmers exploring how potato diversity can help tackle
disease, reduce reliance on chemicals and deliver the qualities farmers, consumers and
markets need. Interested in the entire series? Watch here.
Why potato diversity matters
The potatoes we grow today are only part of a much bigger family. Wild relatives and
traditional varieties hold a wealth of genetic diversity – including traits that could help
potatoes withstand disease, heat, drought and other challenges. Genebanks conserve this
diversity so it remains available to researchers and breeders working on the potatoes of
tomorrow.
Potato: A Story of Generosity
This story is part of Crop Chronicles, a multimedia campaign that uncovers the stories of the crops that feed the world, the people who grow them and the race to adapt them to a changing climate.
BOLD: The Journey of a Seed
Explore the BOLD Project's Seed Journey Campaign here.
CGIAR: Cryo Vault
Read more about potato preservation in the CGIAR Cryo Vault here.
From the Andes to farmers’ fields
Conserving diversity is only the beginning. Through BOLD, the Crop Trust and the International Potato Center (CIP) are putting wild potato diversity to work. That collaboration has already contributed to new late blight-resistant varieties in Peru. Now, researchers are building on that experience in East Africa, connecting breeding with farmer needs, seed systems and markets.
New Potato Variety Offers a Lifeline to Farmers Battling Blight
Genebanks and global cooperation deliver versatile, climate-resilient solutions for farmers
Lima, Peru (06 November 2025) – The same disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine nearly two centuries ago still devastates potato...
6 Nov 2025
Perfecting the Potato, With Help From Peru’s Farmers
This World Food Day, the International Potato Center (CIP) announced a new disease-resistant potato developed with the Crop Trust’s support. Called CIP-Matilde, this special spud was developed in collaboration with farmers and...
15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021
Crop Trust and CIP Announce New Disease-Proof Potato
A new potato named CIP-Matilde was developed by breeders in collaboration with farmers in Peru. It is both tasty and disease-resistant, helping to ensure potatoes remain a staple food that can withstand climate change. The new...
14 Oct 2021
14 Oct 2021