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EST. 2016 • ANDES — ICELAND — UZBEKISTAN • OPEN SCIENCE
POTATO IS FUTURE FOOD
Welcome to potato.institute — the Global Potato Research Institute. We protect 4,000+ native varieties, decode soil microbiomes, build low-energy storage, and turn the humblest tuber into climate-proof nutrition for 1.3 billion people.
4,127VARIETIES BANKED
38FIELD STATIONS
92%LESS WASTE IN STORAGE
1.3BPEOPLE FED
🥔 LIVE FROM THE FIELD
Harvest 2026: Our frost-resistant hybrid Andina Nova yielded 48t/ha at 3,800m altitude. No pesticides.
🥔 SOIL IS LIFE • 4000+ VARIETIES • SEED NOT FOOD • FROM ANDES TO MARS • STORE WITHOUT ENERGY • POTATO.INSTITUTE • SOIL IS LIFE • 4000+ VARIETIES • SEED NOT FOOD • FROM ANDES TO MARS • STORE WITHOUT ENERGY • POTATO.INSTITUTE •
01 / WHO WE ARE — ABOUT
We are tuber guardians & soil nerds.
potato.institute began in 2016 as three agronomists, one barn and 27 Andean landraces in Cusco. Today we are a distributed institute: breeders, microbiologists, chefs, storage engineers and indigenous seed keepers working on one mission — make potato the most resilient, nutritious and delicious crop on a heating planet.
Potato needs 70% less water than rice, grows from desert to tundra, and contains complete protein, vitamin C and potassium. Yet 90% of the world eats only 4 varieties. We change that. We collect, sequence, breed openly — no patents on life — and share everything: seeds, data, storage blueprints.
🌱
Open Seeds
All our hybrids are public domain. Take, grow, breed.
Open Seeds
All our hybrids are public domain. Take, grow, breed.
🧬
Gene Bank
Cryo + in-situ conservation in 12 countries.
Gene Bank
Cryo + in-situ conservation in 12 countries.
🏔️
Altitude Lab
Breeding for frost, drought, flood in one plant.
Altitude Lab
Breeding for frost, drought, flood in one plant.
🍲
Food Culture
From chuño to space puree — taste archive.
Food Culture
From chuño to space puree — taste archive.
📍 Cusco station, 3,400m★ 4.9 RATING
02 / WHAT WE DO
Research fields
SOIL MICROBIOME
Living soil grows living tubers
We mapped 2,400 microbes that protect potatoes from blight. Our compost teas cut fungicides by 84% in trials across Peru, Kenya and Ukraine. Healthy soil = sweet, dense potatoes that store 9 months.
CLIMATE BREEDING
One potato for flood, frost & heat
Crossing wild Solanum ajanhuiri with modern table varieties, we created lines that survive -5°C nights and +38°C days. Field tested in Iceland lava fields and Uzbek Kyzylkum edge.
ZERO-ENERGY STORAGE
Clay, straw & night air
Our Qollqa 2.0 — modern Inca storehouse — keeps 20 tons at 4°C with zero electricity using evaporative walls and underground airflow. Plans are free. Build it in 6 days.
NUTRITION & TASTE
Purple means power
Anthocyanin-rich purple potatoes have 3x antioxidants of blueberries. Our chef-scientists run 200-person taste panels to breed not just yield, but joy — buttery, nutty, earthy.
03 / LIVING COLLECTION
Meet the tubers
ANDINA NOVA
Frost Killer
48t/ha at 3800m • buttery
MIDNIGHT AYMARA
Black Purple
Antioxidant bomb • nutty
GOLDEN STEPPE
Drought Lover
Needs 40% less water
BABY VOLCANO
Lava Field Star
Grows in basalt • sweet
SEED SYSTEM
Clean seeds, not food tubers. Yield +300%
Most farmers plant eating potatoes full of viruses. We produce certified mini-tubers in aeroponics — 80 tubers per plant in air — and village seed multipliers. One clean seed = 3 years of healthy harvest.
Read seed stories
04 / INSIDE
The lab & farm
OPEN LAB — VISIT US
DNA sequencer next to wood-fired oven.
Our main campus: 12ha farm + in-vitro lab + taste kitchen + Qollqa storage. Every Saturday — open harvest day. Dig your own dinner, sequence a leaf, taste 20 varieties. Kids sequence strawberries while parents learn compost.
- 🔬 MinION sequencing — blight test in 2 hours
- 🌡️ Drone + soil sensors every 15 min
- 🍳 Taste lab: texture analyzer + human panel
- 📦 Seed vault at -18°C + mountain backup
8000 BC — ANDES
First domestication near Titicaca
Aymara farmers select bitter wild tubers into chuño — freeze-dried potato that lasts 10 years.
1845 — FAMINE LESSON
Monoculture collapses in Ireland
One variety + blight = tragedy. Our founding lesson: never depend on one clone.
2016 — INSTITUTE BORN
Barn lab in Cusco
27 landraces saved from abandoned terraces. First open seed catalog published.
2026 — TODAY
38 stations, orbit experiment
Potatoes grown in simulated Martian regolith + ISS sprouting test. Next: salt-water potato.
05 / JOURNAL — FRESH FROM SOIL
Potato news
Field reports, breeding breakthroughs, storage hacks and recipes. Updated weekly by our stations.
06 / QUESTIONS
FAQ
Everything you wanted to ask about potatoes but were afraid to dig up.
🥔 Is potato healthy or just starch?
Very healthy. One medium potato has more potassium than banana, 45% daily vitamin C, complete protein and resistant starch for gut. Problem is not potato, but deep-frying and salt overload. Bake, steam, cool and reheat — glycemic index drops.
🌱 Can I grow your varieties at home?
Yes! Order mini-tubers via seed multipliers, or start from true seed. Needs 60-90 days, loose soil, hilling twice. Even a balcony bag yields 3-5 kg. All our varieties are open, no license.
🏚️ How to store potatoes 9 months without fridge?
Dark, 2-4°C, 85-90% humidity, good airflow, no apples nearby. Our Qollqa guide shows clay-straw cellar build. Never wash before storage, cure 10 days at 15°C first.
🧬 Do you use GMO?
We use classical crossing + marker selection. We sequence to understand, not to patent. All releases are non-transgenic and open-pollinated where possible.
🚀 Potatoes on Mars — joke?
No. Potato is NASA top candidate: calorie-dense, efficient, grows in poor regolith with mycorrhiza. We tested 14 lines in Mars simulant — Golden Steppe survived.
07 / JOIN — BECOME TUBER KEEPER
Get seeds. Get knowledge. Get dirty.
Seed swap newsletter, storage blueprints, harvest invites. One email per month. No spam, only soil.
🥔 Tuber Keeper Pledge
I will save seeds, feed soil, share harvest and never waste a potato.
- ✓ Free seed pack for first 500 keepers
- ✓ Qollqa storage PDF + videos
- ✓ Invite to open harvest Saturdays
📍 Main campus: Terraces 7, Cusco Valley
📍 Stations: Reykjavik • Samarkand • Nairobi • Lviv
📍 Stations: Reykjavik • Samarkand • Nairobi • Lviv