Potato production in the north central US is vital to the regional economy and plays an important role in the national potato supply

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Michigan State University $1.929 million on September 30, 2025, under the Grants for Agricultural Research, Special Research Grants program (CFDA 10.200) to lead a two-year collaborative potato breeding and variety development initiative across the North Central United States.

Michigan State University coordinates breeding and genetics work at four land-grant institutions—the University of Wisconsin–Madison, North Dakota State University, and the University of Minnesota—to generate segregating populations through phenotypic and genomic selection of superior parents, identify superior clones using marker-assisted selection for yield, quality, and resilience to biotic and abiotic stress, and commercialize new potato varieties in collaboration with industry stakeholders. The project targets all market classes—russets, chippers, fresh market reds, and specialty potatoes—and expects to deliver new variety releases, breeding lines, new markers for marker-assisted selection, and preliminary data on rapid cycling genome-wide marker analysis for variety development.

Performance runs through September 29, 2027, with administrative and operational work based in East Lansing, Michigan. The University of Minnesota's Shannon lab will conduct crosses, develop minitubers across all market classes, genotype selections, and advance clones through multi-year field trials evaluating yield, size distribution, specific gravity, chip and fry color, skinning, and bruise susceptibility, while screening for resistance to diseases including late blight and pink rot and nitrogen use efficiency. North Dakota State University will perform hybridization, selection, and maintenance of tetraploid and diploid genotypes screened for biotic and abiotic stress resistance including late blight, pink rot, and other regional threats. The University of Wisconsin–Madison will conduct true potato seed production, greenhouse seedling development, early and late generation field trials, post-harvest quality evaluation, and molecular breeding and high-throughput phenotyping work while engaging with growers, processors, and stakeholders to identify and promote new varieties.

The four states of michigan, minnesota, north dakota, and wisconsin accounted for almost a quarter of the US acreage, with a farm-gate value of about $1 billion. All sectors of the potato market are present in this region, dominated by FRY and chip processing markets, with a successful fresh market and expanding specialty market niches. Changes in consumer preference, production economics, and regulations require continual innovation in the potato industry, and plant breeding leading to variety commercialization is critical to meeting these evolving demands. This proposal, a joint effort of the potato breeding and genetics programs at four north central land-grant universities (UW, MSU, ndsu, UMN). There are three specific objectives detailed: 1) generate segregating populations based on phenotypic and genomic selection of superior parents, 2) identify superior clones based on marker-assisted selection for yield, quality and resilience to biotic and abiotic stress and 3) commercialize new potato varieties in collaboration with industry stakeholders. The four project directors and their collaborators have the requisite experience, facilities, and stakeholder relationships to successfully complete these objectives. The expected outcomes from the two-year grant include the release of new varieties, the selection of new breeding lines, new markers for marker-assisted selection, and preliminary data on the feasibility of using a rapid cycling genome-wide marker analyses for improving variety development.