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16 POTATO GROWER | MAY 2016 16 POTATO GROWER | MAY 2016 David Sands has never been accused of being conventional. "I'm certifiably crazy," he says with a wink. "You can go ahead and print that." That self-professed insanity has led Sands, a professor of plant pathology and biotechnology at Montana State University, to seek out previously unexplored avenues through which food producers might increase both profits and consumer welfare. He has played a major role in multiple projects to help increase the nutritional values of highly consumed crops such as wheat and oats. "The gluten-free industry went from $200 million in annual sales in 2007 to $5 billion now," says Sands. "We looked at that and got to thinking what was possible if we played it right and that happened with potatoes." "We were trying to figure out what the next wave was," says MSU research professor Alice Pilgeram, who has worked extensively with Sands. "One of the most significant human diseases is diabetes. So we thought, What do you do for diabetes?" Now, much of Sands and Pilgeram's attention is focused on the search for potatoes that are both low on the glycemic index and profitable to growers. The glycemic index (GI) is a relative ranking of food carbohydrates according to how they affect blood sugar levels. Carbs with a low GI value are more slowly digested and cause a lower, slower rise in blood sugar and, therefore, insulin levels. GI values are of particular interest to people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, a fairly large subset of the population. For all their other nutritional benefits, most potato varieties—particularly those that are most cultivated— have a fairly high GI score. But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case, the MSU researchers say. Sands and Pilgeram have spent the last few years analyzing over 100 potato varieties, searching for those with the lowest GI scores. From their original list, they have come up with six lines that have shown to be low on the glycemic index. Of the six, only one, Huckleberry Gold, is currently certified for production. Huckleberry Gold, released by the Potato Variety Management Institute, is a little-utilized variety with purple skin and yellow flesh on medium-sized tubers. In limited production, it has performed comparably to the more well-known Yukon Gold in terms of yield and disease resistance. Sands and Pilgeram realize that genetic engineering could, in the near future, develop potatoes with the very traits they're working so hard to seek out. But, Pilgeram points out, "There's still a lot of resistance to genetic engineering. At this point, if you can go back into the heirloom varieties and find what you're looking for anyway, what's the point of fighting the battle more than you have to?" So the MSU team is running with its project, and the industry feedback has been positive. Pilgeram sent out a press release on their findings earlier this year, it didn't take long for almost all the Huckleberry Gold seed in the Northwest to sell out. 16 POTATO GROWER | MAY 2016 From left, graduate student Eylul Kaya and researchers Alice Pilgeram and David Sands, are working to fi nd ways for potato growers to maximize both yield and nutritive value. Not pictured is Rocio Rivas, whose post-graduate work has centered on low-glycemic potatoes. From left, graduate student Eylul Kaya and researchers Alice Pilgeram and David Sands, are working to fi nd ways for potato growers to maximize both yield and nutritive value. Not pictured is Rocio Rivas, whose post-graduate work has centered on low-glycemic potatoes.