Oppotunity conducts NGT Field Trials and Potato Seed Multiplication of starch potatoes with improved late blight resistance

Project Oppotunity Conducts First CRISPR-Cas Field Trials for Late Blight Resistant Starch Potatoes Project Oppotunity reports that it has successfully conducted the first field trials in Sweden and Denmark with starch potatoes improved via CRISPR-Cas (a New Genetic Technology, NGT) to increase resistance to late blight infection.

In parallel, seed multiplication took place to harvest more and larger seed potatoes, enabling evaluation of the effects of these improved late blight resistance events in dedicated field trials in 2026.

Project Oppotunity is a collaboration between 12 European parties active in the potato starch value chain, working to promote the approval of new breeding techniques in Europe.

Hans Berggren, Secretary at Project Oppotunity:

"I am honestly proud that we have managed to conduct the improvement via NGT in such an engaged group of companies through this cooperation. Only last year we created the first seedlings and cultivated them in greenhouses to produce seed-tubers, and have now grown these so-called mini-tubers in the field during the 2025 growing season."

"I'm very optimistic that by 2026 and onwards, we can show stakeholders the power of NGTs in the field via enhanced potato genotypes tolerant to a plant disease as severe as late blight. We have proven the speed this technology brings to adapt potatoes to urgent and changing environmental requirements."

Sjefke Allefs, Potato Breeder at Agrico (partner of Project Oppotunity):

"It will still take some years to verify the effects and select the single event that will deliver an appropriate increased late blight tolerance so that it contributes to a more sustainable starch potato cultivation. It needs to be stressed that the overall process is probably 8–10 years faster than what can be achieved with traditional breeding."

Agrico contributed its widely used starch potato variety ‘Kuras,’ which has now been improved via NGT within Project Oppotunity.