A Longstanding Challenge for China’s Potato Industry
Potatoes play a vital role in China’s agriculture, with the country leading the world in production. However, despite its vast planting area, China’s average potato yield ranks outside the top 80 globally. One of the main reasons for this gap is the reliance on foreign potato varieties for processing. Until now, major processing varieties such as ‘Atlantic,’ ‘Shepody,’ and ‘Russet Burbank’ were widely used in China, leaving local breeders struggling to develop a competitive alternative.
This dependence has posed challenges for China’s potato processing industry, as foreign varieties are not always well-suited to local growing conditions. Furthermore, the lack of high-quality domestic processing varieties has limited the development of value-added potato products such as chips, fries, and potato flakes, all of which bring significantly higher profits than fresh potatoes.
Breaking the Bottleneck: The Rise of ‘GanNongShu 7’
After 20 years of dedicated research, a team from Gansu Agricultural University, led by Professor Zhang Feng, has successfully developed ‘GanNongShu 7’ and ‘GanNongShu 9.’ These new varieties mark a major breakthrough in China’s potato breeding efforts, as they are among the first domestically bred processing potatoes capable of fully replacing foreign varieties.
‘GanNongShu 7’ has already been widely adopted by leading potato processing companies, including Aviko, Dali Garden, Keda, Xuechuan, and Shuxiangyuan. Since its introduction, the variety has been planted on more than 430,000 acres (174,000 hectares) across 13 major potato-growing provinces, including Gansu, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Yunnan. This rapid expansion has significantly increased the market share of China’s own processing potato varieties, reducing dependence on imports.
Economic and Agronomic Benefits
The advantages of ‘GanNongShu 7’ extend beyond simply being a domestic alternative. It offers superior performance in yield, disease resistance, and processing quality:
- Higher Yields: Compared to ‘Atlantic,’ farmers growing ‘GanNongShu 7’ have reported yield increases of 800–1,200 kg per acre, translating to an additional 960–1,440 yuan per acre ($134–$200 USD) in earnings. Large-scale commercial farms have seen even higher gains, with yields stabilizing at 4.5–5.5 tons per acre and profits increasing by 1,800–3,000 yuan per acre ($250–$415 USD).
- Industrial Performance: In 2023, field trials in key production areas recorded impressive yields:
- 5,424.96 kg per acre in Gaotai County
- 5,605.47 kg per acre in Shandan County (September 2024)
- 5,812.51 kg per acre in Liangzhou District (October 2024)
- Processing Quality: ‘GanNongShu 7’ has passed rigorous tests for over 30 key processing parameters, including starch content, iodine blue value, oil retention, and gelatinization temperature. This ensures its suitability for the production of potato flakes and fries, meeting international industry standards.
The variety’s ability to be stored at temperatures below 4°C without excessive sugar formation is another major advantage, as high sugar content can lead to dark-colored fries and chips, reducing product quality.
Transforming China’s Potato Processing Industry
The introduction of ‘GanNongShu 7’ has had a significant economic impact. The variety has already been incorporated into the raw material supply chains of major food processing companies. It is particularly favored by Aviko, one of the world’s largest potato flake producers, and has attracted strong interest from other major players like Dali Garden and Snow Valley.
In 2024, the estimated annual production of potato flakes using ‘GanNongShu 7’ exceeded 120,000 tons, generating an additional 48 million yuan ($6.65 million USD) in profits for China’s processing sector. By the end of 2024, total cultivation of this variety had contributed 1.47 billion yuan ($203.6 million USD) to China’s potato industry.
Looking ahead, expansion is expected to accelerate, with the total planting area projected to reach 700,000 acres (283,000 hectares) in 2025, driven by increased adoption in Xinjiang and Hebei. Additionally, China has begun exporting 3,000 tons of processing potatoes from this variety to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, marking its entry into international markets.
The successful development and widespread adoption of ‘GanNongShu 7’ mark a turning point for China’s potato industry. By reducing reliance on foreign varieties, China is strengthening its food security, increasing farmer incomes, and enhancing the competitiveness of its potato processing sector. This breakthrough also opens doors for further research into locally adapted, high-performance potato varieties that can support the country’s growing demand for processed potato products.
As more processing companies shift to domestically bred varieties, China is poised to take a leading role in the global potato industry—not just in production volume, but in breeding and innovation as well.
