In a research facility northwest of Beijing, molecular biologist Li Jieping and his team are harvesting clusters of unusually small potatoes, some as tiny as quail eggs, from potted plants. Grown under simulated higher temperatures predicted for the end of the century, these potatoes serve as an ominous sign for future food security.
Weighing in at just 136 grams, these tubers are less than half the weight of typical potatoes found in China, where popular varieties are often twice the size of a baseball. As the world’s largest producer of potatoes—a crop crucial to global food security due to its high yield—China faces a pressing challenge. Potatoes are particularly vulnerable to heat, and climate change is pushing temperatures to dangerous new heights while exacerbating droughts and floods.
Li, a researcher at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Beijing, is leading a three-year study focusing on China’s two most common potato varieties. His team’s goal is to understand the effects of higher temperatures on the vegetable and develop heat-tolerant strains.
“I worry about what will happen in the future,” Li said. “Farmers will harvest fewer potato tubers, and it will influence food security.”
Over three months, Li’s team grew their crop in a walk-in chamber set at 3 degrees Celsius above the current average temperature in northern Hebei and Inner Mongolia—the regions where potatoes are usually grown in China. Their research, published in the journal Climate Smart Agriculture this month, found that higher temperatures accelerated tuber growth by 10 days but cut yields by more than half.
According to a United Nations report released in October, current climate policy initiatives could lead to as much as 3.1 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100.
In Inner Mongolia, dozens of workers clutching white sacks rush to gather potatoes dug up from the soil before the next downpour. “The biggest challenge for potatoes this year is the heavy rain,” said manager Wang Shiyi. “It has caused various diseases and greatly slowed down the harvest progress.”
Meanwhile, seed potato producer Yakeshi Senfeng Potato Industry Company has invested in aeroponic systems where plants are grown in the air under controlled conditions. Farmers are increasingly demanding potato varieties that are higher-yielding and less susceptible to diseases like late blight, which thrives in warm and humid conditions and caused the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century.
“Some new and more aggressive late blight strains have begun to appear, and they are more resistant to traditional prevention and control methods,” said general manager Li Xuemin, explaining the company’s strategy.
The research by CIP is part of a collaborative effort with the Chinese government to help farmers adapt to warmer and wetter conditions. In the greenhouse outside Li’s lab, workers swab pollen on white potato flowers to develop heat-tolerant varieties.
Li emphasizes that Chinese farmers will need to make changes within the next decade, such as planting during spring instead of the start of summer or moving to even higher altitudes to escape the heat. “Farmers have to start preparing for climate change,” Li said. “If we don’t find a solution, they will make less money from lower yields, and the price of potatoes may rise.”
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
