b'POTATO BREEDING IS a risky business. It can take more than a decade to get a variety to the stage where you can start making money off of it. Between that point theres countless crosses made, testing done, production scale up of seed and then trying to find someone who will buy the seed for use. Due to this risk, its harder for private breeders to get into the game. In North America, most potato breeding has been done by public institutions, including governments and post-secondary Private PotatoBreeding schools. In Europe they operate on a model where public institutions support private breeders in their work.A lot of potato farmers have no idea where new potato varieties came from, they think they come out of greenhouses and labs. Little do they understand all the background work that A non-existent industry only ahas to go on to develop new varieties, Robert Coffin, a potato breeder with Privar Farms, explains in a phone interview.few decades ago, private potatoIn Canada, up until Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) legislation breeding has changed the face ofwas brought into effect in 1990, there was only public potato potatoes in Canada.BY: ASHLEY ROBINSON breeding. Before PBR there was no protections for plant breeding which made potato breeding even riskier. The minute we introduced a PBR law into Canada in the early 1990s, it was like you were opening up a floodgatethe number of new varieties coming into Canada, and particularly into the potato sector, just skyrocketed, Anthony Parker, commissioner of plant breeders rights in Canada, explains in a phone interview.European private breeders started to import potato varieties into Canada and in some cases start operations. There were also Canadian private breeding companies founded and even independent breeders began popping up.Canada has a really strong potato breeding ecosystem. There doesnt necessarily need to be one player, but multiple players have a role. Canadian potato varieties should be competitive with those from companies from other countries or other public breeding programs like the U.S., David De Koeyer, head of the AAFC potato breeding program, says in a phone interview.How PBR Let Private Potato Breeding Become a RealityPotato breeding in Canada has been happening for decades. In 1933, the federal government started breeding work at the Agriculture and Agri-Food (AAFC) Fredericton Research Station and since then, its gone through numerous changes while producing well known potato varieties such as Shepody.De Koeyer says at the start the program focused on disease resistance, but in the 1950s it widened to include consumer quality and agronomic traits.During the 1970s and 1980s, countries around the world started to put plant breeding regulations in place. The private sector was starting to take an interest in plant breeding and for the sector to SPUDSMART.COM Summer 20227'