Michigan State University researchers received a $5.8 million federal grant to improve potato production in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
The school, located in East Lansing, Mich., announced Monday it is leading a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Feed the Future program. Michigan State works with the University of Minnesota, Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Co., and organizations in Bangladesh and Indonesia to produce potatoes that can adapt to extreme weather and pests.
Researchers say they are assessing the validity of genetically engineered potatoes to develop the most sustainable varieties. They also seek to resist the late blight pathogen that still damages crops worldwide more than a century and a half after it caused the infamous Irish potato famine.
The USDA recently approved Innate, a potato genetically engineered by Simplot to resist the disease.
Source: The Star Tribune