Texas A&M breeds potatoes that take the heat and meet the market

But it’s just the latest variety developed by a potato program that for decades developed new and improved varieties for growers and helped shape what lands on dining tables across Texas and beyond.

Since 1998, the potato breeding program has delivered 14 commercially released varieties that have been licensed by nearly 150 U.S. and Canadian companies, according to a report by the The Intellectual Property and Commercialization office for Texas A&M AgriLife. Those varieties have collectively generated more than $11 million in licensing revenue, and over the past decade the program’s annual licensing income has ranked among the highest of any breeding program in The Texas A&M University System.

Fresh-market russets, French fry processing potatoes, and specialty varieties in shades of purple, red and gold are bred to survive the state’s brutal summer heat while meeting the standards that growers, processors and shoppers demand.

Isabel Vales, Ph.D., a Texas A&M AgriLife Research potato breeder and professor in the Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences leads the program. Vales joined the AgriLife Research breeding program after leading Oregon State University’s potato breeding program for five years and has been interacting with the national potato industry for more than 15 years.

Vales said the potato program at Texas A&M AgriLife built its strong foundation on decades of collaboration, sharing breeding material among 12 national public potato programs, primarily Southwest regional partners in Colorado and California, as well as Oregon, Idaho and Washington in the Northwest region.

“Growers and the broader industry are showing a lot of interest in our releases,” Vales said. “We’re focused on making meaningful impacts for growers in the field but that also translate to the various markets and the consumer demand.”

From clone bank to farmer fields

The potato breeding program manages a clone bank of more than 245 advanced breeding lines spanning nearly every market class, disease-resistance package and heat-tolerance traits that growers need.

The process of creating new potato varieties can take more than a decade. But in the end, improved traits translate into stronger returns for producers in Texas and across the nation.

The program partners with Texas potato growers like CSS Farms near Dalhart and Springlake Potatoes near Lubbock, who provide land and equipment for large-scale variety trials.

That work has helped fuel a recent wave of Aggie-bred releases. Newer Texas A&M varieties — Vanguard Russet, Reveille Russet, Dune Russet and Duncan Russet — are gaining traction because they deliver performance-based advantages for growers and market demand.

Duncan Russet’s resistance to potato virus Y, PVY, one of the industry’s costliest diseases, is a “big deal” for growers in Texas and warmer climates around the U.S., Vales said. The virus can cause up to 80% yield losses in a field if left unchecked.

The Duncan variety delivers disease protection but also adds improved performance in warmer growing conditions where other russet varieties fail.

Vanguard and Reveille russet varieties are fresh-market russets bred for heat tolerance, which results in higher yields of marketable tubers for growers in warmer areas.

Most potatoes result in browner French fries and chips the longer they sit in cold storage. But the Dune Russet, a processing variety, holds its light color for French fries even after months in cold storage, a rare trait once potatoes leave the field.

“We want to give growers here in Texas and other parts of the country more options that reduce input costs or improve their access to the market, or both,” Vales said. “Working with and engaging with the growers and broader industry gives us direction. We then identify genetics that can meet a challenge or create new opportunity.”

Innovations equal solutions, opportunity

Vales said new marketing opportunities for potatoes hinge on improved nutritional value and aesthetic characteristics like flesh color.

For instance, Vales is studying how deeper flesh colors, from yellow to pink to purple, could provide marketing opportunities across products like chips or French fries, but they also correlate with higher antioxidant levels.

Vales is also advancing gene-edited, transgene-free potatoes that produce only one starch molecule. This is paving the way for new food and industrial uses for those varieties, including in making spirits like vodka.

Reveille Russet potatoes have experienced rapid adoption among growers, and acreage continues to expand within the commercial market. Vales said she is working through the process to release six new varieties for the commercial market in the near future, and they are expected to pick up additional market share.

Amit Dhingra, Ph.D., professor and head of the Department of Horticultural Sciences, said the potato program reflects the department’s mission to strengthen competitiveness for Texas horticulture producers while advancing food security and public health.

“The Texas A&M potato breeding program demonstrates what is possible when scientific innovation is guided by industry needs and with public benefit in mind,” Dhingra said. “By developing varieties that improve productivity, resilience and quality, our researchers are helping growers succeed while strengthening the sustainability and security of our local and national food system.”