ADAPT: ‘Climate change poses threat to European potato production’

August 26, 2021

In light of the recent heavy rainfall and flooding in parts of potato producing countries Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, it can be interesting to take a look at the results of this survey regarding the (future) influence of climate change on potato production, recently conducted as part of EU ADAPT. This research project aims to develop new strategies to make potatoes fit for the challenging growth conditions of the future.

Farmers’ perception of climate change

As the needs of potato growers are of fundamental interest for the project, ADAPT conducted an online survey asking for the farmers’ perception of climate change, their experiences concerning its impact on potato production, and their need for adapted potato varieties. The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), the ADAPT partner responsible for the survey, received 553 replies, mostly from farmers with potato production locations in Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Slovenia, Belgium, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Threat to maintain potato production

As mentioned above, almost 90 percent of the respondents indicated that changes in climatic conditions had affected their potato production in the last 10 years. Moreover, almost 50 percent defined climatic changes as a threat to maintain potato production at their farms. More than 80 percent of the participating potato growers indicated that drought and heat have increasingly affected their potato production in the last 10 years. In the opinion of more than 50 percent of the farmers, pests and pathogens induced by climatic conditions have had negative effects. More than 40 percent noted the impact of heavy precipitation and similar replies were obtained when asking for potential future impairment of potato production. ‘The survey shows that the focus and the expected outcome of the ADAPT project perfectly meet the needs of potato growers’, Europatat concluded.

About EU ADAPT

European Potato Trade Association Europatat is part of the international consortium involved in research project ADAPT (“Accelerated Development of multiple-stress tolerAnt PoTato”), aiming for breeding multi-stress resistant potato varieties. Started in July 2020, the project will take place over the next three years with a total budget of 5 million euro funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

You may also be interested in:

WUR launches major nematodes research project

Climate change and genetic selection have brought root-knot nematodes further north in Europe and made cyst nematodes more difficult to control. These emerging parasites threaten major crops such as potato. To get a clear picture of the proliferation of novel nematode species and populations and to find appropriate and sustainable solutions to these problems, WUR…

The British Potato Show returns to Harrogate in November

With the harvest season typically concluded and preparations for the new year in motion, British Potato 2023 will return on 22nd and 23rd November at the Yorkshire event centre in Harrogate. A date favoured by participants.

This year sees a record amount of trade stands, as the industry prepares to come together again. Emerging out…

Agritechnica focus on trends in potato technology

From 12-18 November Agritechnica takes place in Hannover, Germany. During the event there is a main focus on potatoes. Dr. Rolf Peters presents his vision on trends in potato technology. He states that potato growing has required a particularly high degree of flexibility from farmers in this year’s growing season due to the intensive change…

The efficiency of overhead irrigation for potato crops

Irrigation with sprinklers, rain guns, center pivots or linear systems – as opposed to furrow and drip irrigation delivering water under the canopy – distributes water overhead, much like natural rainfall does.