A Collaborative Breeding Strategy for Organic Potatoes in the Netherlands

The ability of the organic farmer’s agronomic toolbox to reduce the susceptibility of a potato crop to late blight is limited, certainly under the Dutch climatic conditions. Conventional breeding programs do not generate either a sufficient number nor appropriate types of resistant varieties for organic systems; and a separate breeding program for the limited area of organic potato production is simply not viable. Therefore, all concerned forces have joined together in an umbrella program called Bioimpuls for organic potato improvement.