At Fruit Logistica 2026, the Future Lab stage in Hall 6.1 hosted a presentation that moved well beyond short-term market dynamics and into the structural foundations of potato breeding. Under the title “POMORROW seeks the potato of tomorrow,” Thilo Hammann, Scientific Researcher at the Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), outlined how a German consortium is attempting to translate gene bank diversity into tangible breeding progress.

For an industry accustomed to discussions about varieties, contracts, inputs, and processing capacity, the POMORROW project represents a different layer of the value chain: the long-term genetic architecture that ultimately determines how adaptable future potato varieties will be.

From Genetic Bottlenecks To Breeding Gain

The presentation framed its rationale around a well-known historical reality: potato cultivation in Europe has experienced severe genetic narrowing. While the Irish famine is often cited as a historical example of vulnerability linked to limited genetic diversity, the broader issue today is not historical memory but future resilience.

Modern elite potato germplasm, as described during the session, offers high performance but comparatively limited genetic variation. This creates a structural challenge. As climate patterns shift, as drought events become more frequent, and as disease pressures evolve, breeding progress depends on access to broader genetic resources.

POMORROW — officially titled Potatoes for Tomorrow: Improving Genetic Traits Using Potato Genetic Resources and New Breeding Techniques — seeks to address this constraint directly. The project runs from May 15, 2025 to May 14, 2029 and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Its core objective is to build the tools and infrastructure required for efficient exploitation of potato genetic resources, ensuring sustained breeding gain under future environmental and regulatory conditions.

The central message presented at Fruit Logistica was clear: conserving genetic resources is not enough. They must be decoded, structured, characterized, and made usable for breeders.

Unlocking 6,357 Accessions

Germany’s Federal Ex Situ Gene Bank at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) holds 6,357 potato accessions. According to the project description presented, POMORROW will genotype the entire collection. This is not an abstract scientific exercise. It is intended to create a comprehensive genetic map of the material available in storage.

From this dataset, a structured POMORROW Core Collection (PCC) of 600 entries will be established. These 600 accessions are designed to represent the broader diversity of the collection while remaining manageable for deep phenotyping and genetic analysis. In addition, ten selected strains will undergo complete genome sequencing.

The strategic logic, as explained during the seminar, is to reduce uncertainty. Gene bank material often contains valuable traits, but without detailed genetic and phenotypic characterization, breeders face high integration risks. By systematically genotyping and structuring the collection, POMORROW aims to transform stored diversity into a usable donor pool.

Target Traits For A Changing Production Environment

The Future Lab session outlined a trait portfolio aligned with foreseeable production challenges.

Drought tolerance featured prominently. In parallel with genotyping efforts, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI-MP) in Potsdam is evaluating 240 accessions for drought resilience. A particular focus is placed on the interaction between potato plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi), which can enhance nutrient uptake and influence stress tolerance.

The working hypothesis discussed during the session is that certain potato genotypes may respond more effectively to beneficial fungal partners, potentially improving performance under limited water availability. Given that potato is often characterized by a relatively weak root system compared with other crops, optimizing plant–microbe interaction may represent an additional resilience pathway beyond classical drought tolerance breeding alone.

Nutrient use efficiency — particularly nitrogen efficiency — is another key focus. With increasing regulatory pressure on fertilizer inputs and growing economic volatility in input markets, improving nutrient efficiency has both environmental and commercial implications.

The project also targets nutritional value, reflecting the broader expectation that future varieties must meet not only agronomic demands but also evolving consumer and market requirements.

On the biotic stress side, resistance to late blight remains central. Potato viruses — especially relevant in seed potato systems — are also included among the phenotyping targets. Additionally, stolbur/Arsenophonus, a phytoplasma-associated disease complex that has gained attention in parts of Europe, is being addressed within the project’s scope.

Taken together, the trait portfolio reflects a comprehensive attempt to future-proof potato breeding against both abiotic and biotic pressures.

Integrating Association Genetics And Diploid Resources

Beyond phenotyping, POMORROW incorporates association genetics as a key analytical tool. By linking genetic markers to observed traits within the core collection, researchers aim to identify and validate valuable alleles for breeding use.

The presentation also highlighted the development of novel diploid community germplasm resources. While commercial potato breeding traditionally operates within tetraploid systems, diploid material can simplify genetic analysis and facilitate trait validation. The combination of structured diversity, association mapping, and diploid resources is designed to create a more efficient pipeline from gene discovery to practical breeding integration.

Importantly, the emphasis was not on replacing conventional breeding, but on strengthening it through better genetic information and structured exploitation of diversity.

Transgene-Free Editing And Predictive Breeding

POMORROW also investigates new biotechnological tools for transgene-free gene editing. As presented at Fruit Logistica, these efforts aim to develop editing approaches that do not introduce foreign DNA into the plant genome, aligning with ongoing regulatory discussions in Europe regarding new genomic techniques.

In parallel, the project seeks to complement breeders’ toolboxes with predictive breeding approaches. By developing models that link genetic data to plant performance, breeders may be able to estimate trait potential earlier in the selection process. This could enable the exploitation of minor-effect loci that are traditionally difficult to use effectively.

The long-term objective is to shorten breeding cycles and improve selection efficiency, in a system where variety development commonly spans around ten years from initial cross to market introduction.

A Consortium Model Linking Research And Industry

A structural feature of POMORROW is its consortium design. Scientific partners include the Julius Kühn-Institut, the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology (IBBP), the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, and Hochschule Geisenheim University.

Business partners include SaKa Pflanzenzucht GmbH & Co. KG, Europlant Innovation GmbH & Co. KG, Norika GmbH, and the Gemeinschaft zur Förderung von Pflanzeninnovation (GFPi).

During the Q&A session, the role of breeding companies was addressed directly. Their interest lies in maintaining competitive portfolios and accessing better-characterized donor material for trait integration. While breeding companies provide propagation capacity, field infrastructure, and practical testing environments, large-scale genotyping and deep multi-trait characterization of gene bank resources typically fall outside their operational scope. POMORROW positions itself as pre-competitive infrastructure work that benefits both public research and commercial breeding.

Implications For The Potato Value Chain

For processors, traders, and equipment suppliers, upstream breeding research can seem distant from day-to-day operations. Yet the structural implications are significant.

Stable raw material supply under drought conditions, improved resistance to late blight and viral pressure, better nutrient efficiency, and enhanced resilience against emerging pathogens all influence long-term production reliability. These factors ultimately shape yield stability, quality consistency, and input costs.

The Future Lab presentation underscored that gene banks are not static archives. They are potential reservoirs of innovation — provided that their contents are systematically decoded and integrated into breeding systems.

By genotyping 6,357 accessions, establishing a 600-entry core collection, conducting multi-trait phenotyping, and developing predictive breeding tools, POMORROW aims to build exactly that integration framework.

If successful, the project will not deliver a single headline variety in the short term. Instead, it seeks to strengthen the genetic foundation on which future varieties are built. In a climate-constrained and regulation-sensitive production environment, that foundation may prove decisive.