World Potato Congress Inc. Webinar - 'Potato Variety Development in Ireland, Historical Perspectives and Future Challenges' presented by Dr. Denis Griffin

The World Potato Congress is very pleased to present its second 2022 webinar on February 25 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard time (USA/Canada).

Presentation Outline

Potato is often considered synonymous with Ireland due to the great Irish Famine and still remains the most important food crop in Ireland. The area of potato grown in Ireland peaked at an estimated 800,000 ha in 1845 and following a brief recovery in the 1850’s has continually declined due to change in use of produce, declining consumption and population, better agronomy and higher yielding varieties.

Variety development has continually taken place in Ireland over this time frame. The market in Ireland is now dominated by the variety Rooster released from the Teagasc /IPM Potato group breeding programme.

Like all potato growing nations the future will bring many challenges. Markets will continue to change, consumers will demand more sustainable produce and climate change will bring many challenges.

This presentation will examine some of these challenges through a historical perspective unique to Ireland and outline how breeding and research can contribute to greater sustainability in the future.
  Dr. Denis Griffin began his career in Potato science in 1995 when he undertook a final year undergraduate internship in Teagasc Oak Park as part of a B.Sc. from University College Dublin.

This provided an exceptional opportunity to attend the “Phytophthora infestans 150” conference held in Dublin to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of late blight in Ireland.

This exposure lead to a Ph.D. project on genetic diversity of Phytophthora infestans in Ireland as part of the Walsh Scholarship programme. Following his Ph.D., he began work with Syngenta (formerly Zeneca) at Jealotts Hill in the UK on cereal fungicide development.

In 2002, he returned to Teagasc to lead the potato breeding programme which is a joint collaboration with IPM Potato group limited. In this period, he has released over 25 new potato varieties for global markets.

His current research interests include developing more efficient conventional potato breeding systems including the use of markers and genomic selection, adaptation of potato to diverse environments and seed systems in developing markets.

He is currently supervising several Ph.D. and postdoctoral candidates working in these areas. He is a member of the 2022 local organizing committee for the Dublin World Potato Congress.