Potato is the most important vegetable crop, the third most consumed food crop in the world after rice and wheat. Most New Zealanders eat potato several times a week, and growers produce more than 400,000 tonnes a year.

In much the same way households use different potatoes for different occasions, scientists have bred potatoes with a combination of different characteristics that determine their commercial use. While all growers want potatoes that need less water, less fertiliser and fewer pesticides to grow, potato processors need potatoes of different sizes, shapes, and compositions depending on how they will be processed, with consistent quality and low wastage.

Potato harvest

Not only do floury potatoes make good mash and roasties – being low in water and high in starch, they have a fluffy texture when cooked – they’re also good for processing. Crisp manufacturers need potatoes with light flesh colour, round shape and low sugar content, so they don’t go brown when cooked, while fry manufacturers need uniform, long, rectangle-shaped potatoes so that each fry is consistent.

Since the 1970s, New Zealand scientists have bred more than 40 potato varieties for growers in New Zealand and beyond. Varieties like ‘’Crop77’ are used by potato processing companies such as Griffin’s Snacks, who make SnackaChangi™, Kettle™, Proper® and Eta™ crisp brands, and ‘Crop78’ is used by Mr Chips, as well as Simplot in Australia, who produce fries used by many quick service restaurants and takeaways.