Potato Varieties Bred in Norway: From Ancient Landraces to Modern Cultivars

Norway has developed a range of potato varieties that reflect both its long agricultural history and modern breeding efforts. Traditional landraces form the foundation of Norwegian potato heritage. Tromøypotet, considered one of the country’s oldest varieties, has been cultivated on the island of Tromøya since at least 1757. It produces round, angular tubers with red skin and yellow flesh, shows resistance to potato wart disease, but is susceptible to late blight and has a high dry matter content with a mealy texture. Svart Valdres, discovered in 1967 in Øystre Slidre, is an old blue-skinned landrace known locally as “Blåpotet” or “Svartpotet.” Its deep blue skin and yellow flesh with red patches make it distinctive, and it demonstrates high resistance to potato mop-top virus and good resistance to tobacco rattle virus. Other traditional Norwegian accessions preserved in Nordic genebanks include Jøssing, Åspotet, and Rød Gulløye.

Modern commercial breeding in Norway is led primarily by Graminor, which has released several notable cultivars. Undset, approved in 2022, is a medium-late table and French fry variety with yellow skin, light yellow flesh, and very shallow eyes. With a dry matter content of 21–22% and cooking type B, it shows strong resistance to stem late blight, common scab, and silver scurf, plus resistance to Ro1 nematodes, though it is susceptible to potato wart disease. Nansen, approved in 2018, is a medium-early to medium-late variety with deep red skin, oval tubers, and light yellow flesh. It has excellent resistance to both stem and tuber late blight and very strong resistance to common scab. Bruse, approved in 2001, is a specialty variety bred exclusively for potato chip production, with deep red skin, light yellow flesh, and exceptionally high dry matter content of 26–27%. It is immune to wart disease but weakly resistant to late blight and susceptible to Fusarium rot. Most recently, Norin was added to the Norwegian official variety list in spring 2026. Bred in Central Troms and meaning “from the north,” it is a medium-early variety with red skin, yellow flesh, oval tubers, and shallow eyes. It is resistant to wart disease race D1 and Ro1 nematodes, with strong resistance to common scab, silver scurf, soil-borne viruses, and stem rot, and moderate resistance to late blight.