Nearly everyone has grown a potato plant from a chunk of potato in water, but did you know that potatoes have seeds?
They certainly do. However, potato seeds don't produce the same potato every time, the offspring show wide variation in color, texture, maturity time, flavor, disease resistance, and storability. So, for centuries, farmers have grown potatoes from tubers for predictable, identical crops.
A tuber is what you see in the pantry when a potato starts sprouting. When you plant that tuber, it creates an exact copy — a clone — of the original plant.
Now, a breakthrough by Ohalo Genetics, a U.S.-based ag-biotech company founded in 2019, is turning the potato industry on its head. Ohalo has pioneered the world's first commercially viable true potato seeds (TPS) for high-performing, uniform potato crops using their proprietary Boosted Breeding technology.
This is transforming potato farming. For the first time, uniform, predictable potatoes can be grown directly from seeds. It's transformative because:
– Farmers won't need to store and transport tons of bulky seed potatoes'tiny seed packets are cheap, easy to store, and ship anywhere.
– Every crop starts clean, with no viruses, fungi, or bacteria carried over from previous tubers.
– It will produce a lot of potatoes. Trials show yield increases of 20 percent up to 100 percent thanks to healthier, more vigorous plants.
The technology could revolutionize planting in areas with limited infrastructure'all without extra chemicals. It's just a true seed.
