Potato Grower

Innately Impressive Simplot's Innate technology makes it to a second generation By Tyrell Marchant l Photos courtesy Simplot Plant Sciences Last August, Potato Grower's cover feature detailed the newly unveiled Innate potato technology produced by Simplot Plant Sciences. The genetic technology incorporated into these potatoes involves working with the potato's own genes to improve or suppress certain traits. The first generation of Innate potatoes introduced two primary improvements. The first such trait is reduced asparagine, which leads to lower acrylamide levels. The second is severely reduced black spot bruise. In several dozen trials run by Simplot last year, Innate Russet Burbanks showed 44 percent less bruise than regular Russet Burbanks, and Russet Rangers had 35 percent less bruise. Innate technology has also been used on Atlantic and Snowden varieties with similar results. "So what's the benefit?" says Haven Baker, general manager and vice president of Simplot Plant Sciences. "We think this can reduce waste at the packer and retail levels by 240 million pounds a year. In the foodservice and restaurant industry there's an additional 160 million pounds of waste from peeling and trimming and shrink that comes from black spot bruise. That's 400 million pounds of waste that could be prevented with this trait." That's a big industry sustainability measure Simplot is trying (and, if early results are any indication, succeeding) to accomplish with the Generation 1 Innates. "As you can probably imagine, though," says Baker, "just because we're working on this Generation 1 we didn't stop our research efforts. We have new potatoes coming down the pipeline that have new traits." These Generation 2 Innate potatoes merge two additional traits to Generation 1's: late blight resistance and what Simplot is calling the cold storage trait—technically lower sugars. The cold storage trait, according to Baker, will make it possible to store the potatoes at 38 degrees Farenheit for at least six months while significantly reducing sugar ends. Innate's late blight resistance is aimed at reducing fungicide use in areas that suffer high late blight occurrence every year as well as providing an insurance option to prevent the occasional late blight outbreak. In order for genetically modified plants like Innate potatoes to go to market, they are first required to go through a two- part process. First, the company—Simplot in this case— submits all of its scientific data from its own research to the USDA to approve, after which the information is released to the public for a review and comment period, usually 30 or 60 days. The second step involves the USDA publishing a report on the plant's environmental effects and again releasing it to the public for a period review. If no new issues crop up during the public comment periods, the USDA can approve the crop. Generation 1 of Innate potatoes went through its first public comment period in 2013 and just got through its second round this June. So, what exactly do these government reports say? "Some of the main things that are going to come out of this report," says Baker, "are: There aren't any new allergens; there's low risk of cross-pollination; there's no adverse impacts on human health or other species or the environment. The potatoes are grown just like regular cultivated varieties. "If this were corn, I don't think there'd be any interest in it, because this happens all the time in corn," Baker continues "But what's interesting with potatoes, is Simplot Plant Sciences is bringing biotech potatoes to market. This is the first time this has happened in a dozen or 15 years." Baker says that the entire process for bringing a new biotech crop to market is generally an eight- to 10-year process, with final government approval taking around three years. If everything goes according to present plans, Innate Generation 1 will be put on the market for the 2015 growing season. But since potato seed supply takes four or five years to bulk up, Baker says there won't be a significant amount of Innate seed available for another few years. Simplot is looking at a 2017 product launch for Generation 2. "It's a question of demand and customers, but we do think Generation 2 will go faster," says Baker "One, because the industry will be already accustomed to Generation 1. Second, 30 Potato Grower | JULY 2014

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