Update on the 2025 Canadian potato variety trial presented at Canadian Potato Summit

It was an extremely dry growing season in the Maritimes during the 2025 Canadian potato varieties trials. While this is never easy for farmers to contend with, it did give an opportunity to see which varieties are more drought tolerant.

By Tamara Botting

The Canadian potato variety trial is an essential cross-country information gathering and testing practice that has been shaping the nation’s potato industry for decades.

The influence the variety trials have on the nation’s agricultural industry can’t be understated when one considers the fact that potatoes are Canada’s largest vegetable crop. Furthermore, according to the Government of Canada website, in 2023, potatoes accounted for $1.96 billion in farm gate receipts.

Potatoes in Canada hosted its annual Canadian Potato Summit in January 2026. One of the sessions for that virtual event was the 2025 Canadian Potato Variety Trials: Industry Overview.  

Jen McFarlane was the first presenter. She’s an integrated pest management (IPM) consultant for ES Cropconsult  (an IPM company in British Columbia that does that province’s portion of the variety trials), and is the national coordinator for the variety trials.

McFarlane gave credit to all of those who contributed to the process, saying, “These field trials don’t take place without grower collaborators, seed producers, and everyone else who works hard in the field to make these trials happen.”

She also noted how expansive the trials are.

“These really do span the breadth of the country, from Vancouver on the west coast all the way to PEI on the east side. There’s a trial site in every province.”

This helps with the data collection, since each site has a unique climate and experiences different weather patterns. For instance, in 2025, Manitoba had some higher temperatures in May, and wildfires meant smoky conditions throughout the middle of the summer. While western Canada’s temperatures and rainfall were fairly average, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had drought conditions in the late summer; Quebec had high rain levels in July, but then it was very dry for the rest of the season.

The fields in the eastern trials are not irrigated, meaning that they were relying on rainfall.

While the conditions for the eastern side of Canada were hard for the growers to experience, McFarlane noted that there was a sliver lining in it for the variety trials, because it gave researchers “an opportunity to test drought tolerant varieties and see if there’s anything there that can be of use.”

She emphasized how much of a benefit it is to have trails in all of the provinces, because it allows for a broader data set; “2025 was a great year to compare these different conditions, because what we saw across the country was very varied.”

It wasn’t just the weather patterns that were diverse across the country, but also the varieties being grown.

Not only were up-and-coming varieties planted, but a short list of industry standards were also grown.

McFarlane said growing both types “really gave us an opportunity to provide a baseline to growers to compare from something like Yukon Gold with the newer varieties that are coming out, and I think that was helpful, so we will continue to do that.”

Also, not every variety will be grown at every site across the country. Some may grow as many as nine or ten varieties, while others may only grow one or two.  

“We needed to have flexibility for the local market and industry for that area, so we’re not forcing someone to grow a potato that just isn’t relevant to them,” McFarlane said.

Throughout the trials, the parameters being measured include:

• Total yield – hundredweight (cwt) per acre

• Marketable yield

• Uniformity of shape and size

• Diseases observed

• Growth deformities observed

• Comments and other observations

McFarlane gave a quick rundown of some highlights of the varieties that were grown across Canada.

With red skinned potatoes, AG 1540 and Fenway both had great yields in BC, which made sense, as the weather was so favourable. The Dark Red Norland variety was grown in seven different sites, so there was a lot of opportunity for comparison.

With yellow varieties, Yukon Gold, which is the industry standard, had a better yield in Manitoba, but was lower in Ontario and Quebec. Colomba also did well in Manitoba.

Constance had great yields in the western part of Canada, but there wasn’t as much of a basis for comparison, as it wasn’t grown in many sites; this was also true of Alegria.

Russet varieties were split into two categories, processing and fresh. Burbank had a lower yield in the eastern provinces due to the drought conditions; the other three varieties looked at were mostly grown in western Canada, which again, had good results because of favourable weather conditions.

It was a similar story with white varieties; Eva, Alliston and Audrey were limited as far as where they were grown, so the comparison data is lacking; Audrey did produce well in BC.

Kennebec had a poor yielding in Quebec, but did much better in BC, Alberta and Manitoba.

As far as chip varieties are concerned, two old favourites – Atlantic and Lamoka – both performed well; so too did SP327, which did especially well in BC and Alberta, and McFarlane described as “a promising new variety.”

She added, “Maybe this is something we’ll be seeing a little more of in the future.”

There were two other speakers during the webinar. Dr. Chandra Singh, from Lethbridge Polytechnic, spoke specifically about the field trials that took place in Alberta, while Samuel Gagnon with Progest spoke about the variety trials in Quebec.

While Ontario’s varieties trials results were not covered in the webinar, the March 2026 Canadian Agriscience Cluster for Horticulture 4 update report did have some details about some new promising potato varieties that were found through the province’s varieties trials.

(The report, which discusses testing results for a number of commodities, can be read here: bit.ly/4rr9ILr)

F180085-04 was described as “a standout early to mid chip line with high yield and gravity and low sugar levels at harvest.”  Furthermore, the report noted, this variety “reduces the likelihood of processors rejecting a crop due to high sugar levels.”

Meanwhile, AG1540 proved to be “the highest-yielding late-maturing fresh market line in trials,” and “VF180073-13 is highly resilient, ranking as a top yielder in both the standard and heat-stress trials. This variety allows growers to better manage the risks associated with increasingly frequent summer heatwaves.”

Three varieties – VF19006-002, AG1601.05, and Kingsman – “were found to be the strongest dual-purpose varieties for boiling and baking in trials,” according to the report.

Testing is currently underway for the 2025-2026 long-term commercial storage trials, the results of which are expected to be released in December 2026.

The varieties trials are a lot of work – not only at each individual site, but also considering the coordination that has to happen across the nation.

Also, “It takes a long time to get a variety from the beginning stages all the way to being a commercial variety that can be grown,” McFarlane said, adding that the process is generally 15 years from start to finish.

However, she added, there’s a lot of value in the work being done.

“It keeps Canada at the forefront of producing new varieties,” she said. On top of that, it gives the growers the opportunity to see firsthand what grows well locally for them. 