Top potato researchers from the UK and The Netherlands have joined the speaker panel at the World Potato Congress due to take place in Edinburgh on 27-30 May 2012.
Exploiting the potato genome and how new knowledge will affect production, nutritional qualities and consumer needs will be the focus for Dr Glenn Bryan of The James Hutton Institute, Dundee.
Professor Anton Haverkort of Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Centre will address the carbon footprint of potato production as part of the industry’s sustainability agenda as he suggests actions for growers.
Lead speaker on the first day, Professor Sir John Beddington, UK government chief scientific adviser, will examine the global challenges of food security and how policymakers can influence more sustainable intensification of agriculture with crops like the potato. He will also discuss recommendations of the UK government office for science’s Global Food & Farming Futures report a year since its pubication.
Bryan, who led the UK arm of the research team that sequenced the genome of the potato, will explain how putting more science into the sector will make breeding programmes more effective.
“The use of genetics-based selection methods is very promising and technology to exploit the genome sequence is already underway,” said Bryan. “I can see that collaborative working involving scientists and breeders in different countries will lead to the introduction of baseline traits, such as nematode resistance, that will benefit all varieties. Individual breeders will then carry out work to introduce traits of particular relevance to their own geographic region.”
According to Haverkort, the scientific community attending World Potato Congress will exchange important knowledge with peers and the commercial sector. A significant issue will be to ensure a sustainable industry that makes best use of energy, land, water and chemicals.
