The Andes end in the Canary Islands, the potato trip to Europe

The Andean mountains are a center of potato biodiversity, where cultivation has been taking place in small fields for thousands of years and growers have selected a multitude of varieties to support their livelihood. Nowadays, this biodiversity still provides an important source of income as growers cultivate about four thousand varieties, each with their own specific morphological, physiological and nutritious characteristics. At the other side of the world, in the Canary Islands, around fifty ancient potato varieties with unique characteristics are being cultivated and marketed at present, with characteristics similar to the native potato landraces of the Andes.