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Backup of the Nordic Potato Collection Moves to Finland

Date: 2021.12.07

The safety duplicate of NordGen’s potato collection will be relocated to Finland. This means that NordGen will conduct conservation operations in four Nordic countries.

NordGen is responsible for the long-term conservation of the Nordic potato collection, which includes 95 different varieties of potatoes from the Nordic countries including the Faroe Islands. The potato collection is placed at NordGen’s head office in Alnarp outside Swedish Malmö. But just as with the seed collection, it is important that the potato collection is safety duplicated. An agreement was recently signed that the potato backup will be moved from southern Sweden to the Finnish Seed Potato Centre Ltd (SPK), which is located nearby Oulu in Finland.

NordGen’s executive director, Lise Lykke Steffensen. Photo: NordGen/Lars Bech.

– We are very satisfied with the expertise and facilities at SPK. NordGen’s collections belong to the Nordic countries and the move means that we are now also conducting conservation activities in Finland. It is important for Nordic cooperation, says NordGen’s executive director Lise Lykke Steffensen.

Potato Plants in Glass Tubes

Potato varieties are not kept in genebanks as seed samples because that would change the genetic characteristics. Therefore, the potato collection is preserved as living plants, clones, in glass tubes. To avoid the plants being affected by virus diseases, the potato collection is handled and stored in vitro, ie in a sterile environment. At SPK, about 30 potato varieties are produced for various purposes and the company has extensive experience of working with potato plants in vitro.

– In this way, we can be safeguarding the conservation of the genetic resources of Scandinavian potato varieties and not only those of Finnish origin. In addition, this is well suited to our operations, where we have very strong expertise and good facilities, says the managing director of SPK, Paula Ilola.

SPK:s director, Paula Ilola, holding in vitro-plants.

Deepened Collaboration

The transfer of the potato collection to SPK will hopefully lead to other collaborations between SPK and NordGen.

– Together we can share know-how and information about potatoes and, if possible, create joint potato research projects in the Nordic countries. Scandinavian potato growing conditions differ significantly from those in Central Europe, where mainly breeding of new varieties takes place, says Paula Ilola.

Twelve potatoes from NordGen’s collection.

Potatoes are an important crop in the Nordic region where Finland has a long tradition of cultivation and breeding of potatoes. The hope for collaboration is also shared by NordGen.

– The climate changes make it urgent to develop new potato varieties adapted to Nordic cultivation conditions. Hopefully, our collaboration can be deepened in the future so that we can work on these challenges together, says Lise Lykke Steffensen.

FACTS NordGen’s Operations in the Nordic Region

NordGen’s head office (which includes the NordGen Plants section with an active seed storage, seed laboratory and greenhouse and field cultivations) is located in Alnarp outside of Malmö in Sweden.

The sections NordGen Forest and NordGen Farm Animals are stationed in the Norwegian Ås outside of Oslo.

The Nordic seed collection preserved by NordGen is backed up in two places. The base seed storage is located at Aarhus University in Flakkebjerg, Denmark.

Additional safety duplicates of the seed collection are stored in Svalbard Global Seed Vault where NordGen is responsible for the seed handling. The Seed Vault is operated in a collaboration between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food together with the organization Crop Trust and NordGen.

NordGen’s potato backup is relocated to SPK in Oulo, Finland.