On World Environment Day (June 5), potato breeding company HZPC released a report highlighting the benefits of breeding on yield, carbon footprint and water use for Europe.
An extra 10 million tons of potatoes every year have been grown by European Union farmers thanks to potato breeding over the past 15 years, says HZPC. It adds that’s more than the annual potato output of the whole of Poland, and means the EU can export potatoes instead of importing them.
Today’s European potato harvests would be 20 per cent lower and seven per cent more expensive for consumers without the last 15 years of plant breeding advances, says the report, adding that 60 per cent of the growth in potato harvests can be attributed to plant breeding.
Without plant breeding, Europe would need an extra 47 million acres of farmland to produce the same amount of food (all food – not just potatoes), says HZPC.
It adds that turning 47 million acres of forests, wetlands and other habitats into farmland would release 3.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide. On an annual basis, that’s the same as all the greenhouse gas emissions from traffic in Germany, or the annual carbon dioxide emissions of a country like the Netherlands, the report states.
According to HZPC, plant breeding has also enabled EU farmers to save nearly 55 billion cubic metres of water since 2000 (all food – not just potatoes).
For more information visit Potato Grower.
