A new potato breeding program run by the University of Maine is looking to keep Maine’s top-selling food crop afloat amidst extreme weather spurred on by climate change.

The Bangor Daily News reports that UMaine’s Mario Andrade, assistant professor of potato breeding and genetics runs the program. Andrade, who did doctoral work in both Brazil and Florida, joined UMaine Orono in March. He’s been working with recently retired professor Gregory Porter, who had led the university’s potato breeding effort since 2007.

The main objective is to create new strains of potato plants that can withstand problems such as bugs, diseases, and new weather patterns as Maine is forecasted to get warmer and hotter in the coming years. 2020 and 2021 saw Maine suffering through a major drought, and 2023 saw constant rain, both of which were brought on by human driven global warming. Both of these conditions have Maine farmers worried about the future of their potato yields.

But the program is working to fix these issues, with UMaine sending seeds to be planted in test plots in hotter climates such as Florida and South Carolina. They also plant the same strains in Presque Isle. After gathering data from the harvest, they can determine which plants best tolerated climate issues in either region.

Andrade also plans on using DNA studies to best predict which plants will do well in certain climates to advance the breeding projects. The process can shave two to three years off the normal 12 years it takes to release a new variety. And this is funded by a 1.4-million-dollar grant given to UMaine in November by the USDA to develop the potatoes.

“The next years will be very unpredictable. I think it’s already a reality for us, that we cannot count on the weather anymore,” Andrade said from his family’s home in Brazil.

To read the original Bangor Daily News article, click here.