WPC Webinar- Julio Kalazich on Potato Breeding Programs in South America

The World Potato Congress Inc. is pleased to present its first webinar of 2023 on January 24, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (USA/Canada) in English followed by the presentation in Spanish at 10:00 am EST (USA/Canada).

Presentation Outline

Potatoes adapted to long day and cultivated today all over the world come from this part of the world.

The presentation will analyze the similarities and differences between the 4 public potato breeding programs of the southern cone countries of South America (INTA-Argentina, EMBRAPA-Brazil, INIA-Chile and INIA-Uruguay), which cover a wide range of environments (from 13° to 54° LS), making wide adaptation one of the main characteristics of the varieties developed here.

The domestic markets of each of these countries show wide differences in consumer preferences for tuber skin color. All countries are focused on developing varieties for fresh consumption and processing for both domestic and foreign markets and incorporating resistances in the varieties to the main abiotic and biotic factors such as drought and heat and late blight, PVY and bacterial wilt, respectively.

The potato breeding programs of INTA, EMBRAPA, INIA-Ch and INIA-Uy, together, generate about 200,000 genotypes per year, from which we can anticipate that they will continue to deliver to their local markets and industry and with projection to the international markets, varieties of wide adaptation, high quality for fresh consumption and processing and with characteristics of resistance to the main factors affecting the crop.

Julio Kalazich, Ph.D., Agronomy Professor, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile

Julio Kalazich is an Agronomist from Universidad Austral de Chile, with a Ph.D. in plant breeding from Cornell University, USA. He was the head of the Potato Breeding Program at INIA (Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Ministry of Agriculture, Chile), for more than 40 years, until 2018.

He was responsible for the release of 13 potato varieties, 4 of which in 2018 had over 50% of the total potato sales in Chile. He was Regional Director of INIA for 8 years and also National Director of INIA for 4 years.

Dr. Kalazich has also had extensive international experience. He has been President of PROCISUR and Vice President of FONTAGRO, two Latin American organizations related to agriculture.

He was a member of the Advisory Committee (and its Chairman for a period) of the Collaborative Crop Research Program of the McKnight Foundation (USA) for 12 years (an institution that funds agricultural research in Africa and Latin America).

He has collaborated with potato programs of the United States, Italy, China, CIP and countries in Central America, Andean South America and extensively with countries in the Southern Cone of South America.

He has also served as Vice President of the Latin American Potato Association (ALAP). Since 2019, he is affiliated with the Universidad de Los Lagos in Osorno, Chile, as a professor of the Agronomy Career with responsibilities in teaching, research and extension. Since July 2022, he is an International Advisor of the World Potato Congress.