6 September 2010 by David Without Borders



The Andean region is the world’s center for potato domestication. Since the early 2000s, scientists and Quechua communities are racing to record and preserve the genetic diversity of native potatoes; to ensure that it does not vanish as suddenly as the Inca Empire. While building the largest state-of-the-art in vitro gene bank in the world, six communities are conserving the native potatoes in a potato park. Here, the combination of traditional knowledge and modern technologies, ex-situ and on-the-ground banks, works to ensure the continuity of modern world agriculture.