San Luis Valley Research Center

05/29/2026

Good news! We are releasing two new russet varieties with Canadian Eastern Growers!

Horizon Russet and Crystal Russet are both drought and heat tolerant with low percentages of defects.

Horizon Russet is early bulking at about 80 days. A few years ago, it produced a nice crop with only 1.25 inches of rain!

Crystal Russet has great fry potential for quick service restaurants! After a recent hot and dry growing season (about 6 inches of rain), Crystal was harvested with an abundance of potatoes weighing over 8oz and was the only row of plants that remained green! We will be publishing a paper on this cultivar soon so keep an eye out for more information.

05/22/2026

Planting is complete at the SLVRC! Teamwork and (mostly) good weather made it fly by with virtually no hangups this year! Here are a few photos shared by the Potato Improvement Program from the one day we had some nasty weather.

We hope everything is going smoothly for the other potato operations here in the Valley. Happy planting!

05/15/2026

Potato Fact Friday!

Did you know that there are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes worldwide? The CSU-SLVRC Tissue Culture Lab maintains about 500 varieties between its Active Clone Bank and long-term storage. While that number is only about an eighth of what exists across the globe, our tissue culture specialist sure works hard to maintain them!

For those of you who don't know, tissue culture is a process where nodes (where leaves attach to the stem) are cut off a mother plant and grown in agar within a sealed, sterile environment such as a test tube or vessel. There's a lot more to the tissue culture process than just that- days of sterilizing procedures, an unbelievable number of hours cutting plantlets under a ventilated hood, and yearly testing- just to name some of the work that goes into it. Tissue culture is such an interesting and unique aspect of agricultural work!
https://extension.colostate.edu/tissue-culture-lab/

https://pacooppotatoes.com/2026/01/10/think-you-know-potatoes-these-mind-blowing-potato-trivia-facts-will-surprise-you/

The Colorado State University Tissue Culture Lab is located at the San Luis Valley Research Center. This location houses approximately 500 potato varieties.

05/08/2026

Potato Fact Fry-Day

Did you know that the French fry did not originate in France? They were actually invented in Belgium but later popularized by French cuisine in the early-mid 1800s.

https://pacooppotatoes.com/2026/01/10/think-you-know-potatoes-these-mind-blowing-potato-trivia-facts-will-surprise-you/

04/30/2026

Check out this yummy, smashed potato pizza recipe- it's quick, easy, and the best of both potato and pizza worlds! You don't need this specific variety of potato, any smaller red or yellow at the grocery store should work just fine.

We are intending on sharing potato recipes once a month (time permitting) so keep an eye out and feel free to share your own favorites in the comments or as a DM we can share!

1 bag Upstate Abundance potatoes 45g olive oil 8g kosher salt 3g freshly cracked black pepper 5g garlic powder 180g marinara sauce 200g mozzarella cheese, shredded 100g sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 150g pepperoni slices 60g red onion, thinly sliced 45g fresh basil leaves 15g extra virgin olive oil...

04/28/2026

Please take a minute to read through our quarterly newsletter! We started this project a year ago and have been so grateful for everyone's support😄

04/24/2026

Potato Fact Friday!

Did you know that Russet Burbank was developed in 1872 or 1873 (depending on the source) and was released in the early 1900s under the name of Netted Gem? While it didn't gain popularity until the 1930s when irrigation was introduced to Idaho, it has since become one of the most popular and versatile cultivars available for both fresh market and processing.

https://www.montana.edu/extension/pspp/funspudfacts.html

04/03/2026

Potato Fact Friday!

Did you know that Marie Antoinette was known to wear potato flowers in her hair while traveling the French countryside? I imagine the purples ones would be her favorite. Pictured here are the SLVRC's Masquerade (whole tuber) and TC17742-1PW/PW (chipped), both have incredibly beautiful purple flowers and skin coloration (plus they're both delicious)!

Also, thank you to everyone who turned out to vote for potatoes in Veggie Madness, we won by about 36 votes!

https://www.montana.edu/extension/pspp/funspudfacts.html

03/26/2026

are in the final two for Veggie Madness! Today is the last day to vote and help us win!

03/23/2026

Happy National Chips and Dip Day!

The Potato Improvement Program has been developing one heck of a chipping variety lately! Say hello to AFC6911-2Wadg! It is PVY resistant and high yielding!

It can fry beautifully and goes great with any kind of dip. My personal favorite is a garlicky-dill yogurt dip. Caroline Gray likes a sour cream and onion or French onion dip, and Beth Messier prefers a hatch green chile guacamole. YUM👌

Thank you to the Mitchell's for the picture of them fresh out of the field this past September. We also took the liberty of comparing AFC6911-2Wadg to Lamoka, a common chipping check variety we use in our evaluations.

What's your favorite chip and dip combo?

03/23/2026

Veggie Madness is here!!! TODAY, March 23-27 is the time to help us get to the Number 1 spot at long last! The average American eats about 70lbs of potatoes every year, how could they not take 1st???🤩 (Potatoes have come in 2nd place two years in a row, let's fix that)
Scan the QR code or go to col.st/9veoq