Science in Agriculture
Many people love potatoes, whether they are mashed, baked or fried! Potatoes are grown in three main areas of Minnesota. Growing potatoes in Minnesota can be difficult because of the short growing season, so farmers need special potatoes that can grow well here. Farmers can choose from potato varieties that have different traits because of plant breeders. Let's meet a plant breeder who works to develop potatoes for Minnesota farmers.
Laura Shannon is a plant scientist and potato breeder at the University of Minnesota. Laura's job as a potato breeder is to work with potato farmers to grow better potatoes. Did you know most of the potatoes grown in Minnesota are made into trench fries? Laura uses her knowledge of genetics and technology to develop potatoes with traits that make them perfect for fries.
How does Laura breed potatoes?
Laura knows that farmers want to grow potato plants that yield (produce) a lot of potatoes that taste great, don't spoil or rot easily, and when chopped up, make tasty looking fries.
Once Laura finds a potato variety that tastes great, she tests it to make sure it doesn't have any diseases (just like humans, plants can get sick too!). This great tasting potato might not look so tasty when chopped up to make french fries, so Laura will find another variety of potato that stays crisp and white when chopped.
These potato varieties are the "parent potatoes". By combining the traits of these two different types of potatoes, Laura hopes to produce a new type of potato that has inherited the great tasting trait from one parent, and the tasty looking french fry trait from the other parent.
Potatoes are grown in three areas of Minnesota: under irrigation on the sandy soils from Elk River to Park Rapids, on the rich soils of the Red River Valley from Fergus Falls north to Canada, and on peat soils near Albert Lea.
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY Laura Shannon and Rachel Figueroa