SaKa Pflanzenzucht GmbH & Co. KG (SaKa) is part of the Solana Group and a leading family-owned potato breeding company based in Germany. It combines 120 years of successful potato breeding with modern breeding methods and biotechnological know-how. SaKa develops high-quality potato varieties with improved agronomic, quality and resistance characteristics and is also responsible for maintenance breeding within the Solana Group. This involves in vitro propagation of potato plants and production of minitubers for seed increase. Since 2006, SaKa’s sister company Solana Research GmbH has been responsible for developing and implementing molecular marker technologies, conducting -omics research and implementing biotech strategies. Several further Solana sister companies in Europe and Chile act as sales organizations responsible for production and distribution of seed potatoes to more than 50 countries worldwide. The Solana Group’s portfolio includes around 60 protected potato varieties for all uses, as well as about 10.000 ha under agricultural production in Germany and Poland. Through active participation in various collaborative projects with different European partners (e.g. GABI-CONQUEST, GABI-CHIPS, TASK, EU-Bioexploit, TarBreed, ERA-CAPS HotSol, ERA-NET SusCrop DIFFUGAT, EU-Adapt as well as recent BMEL/FNR-funded projects PotatoTools, PotatoPredict, ZucKar), both SaKa and Solana Research are well connected in the European potato community. Combining potato breeding and research as well as high-quality seed production and large-scale farming activities, the Solana Group’s expertise covers the entire value chain and is dedicated to growing innovation.

Role in the project:
As commercial potato breeder, SaKa will deploy its expertise for potato germplasm enhancement and development of predictive breeding tools like genomic selection (GS) to IPMorama goal of developing IPM-centric varieties. We will equip processing potato clones with stacked R genes to enhance the crop’s durability of resistance against blight, virus and nematode attacks, and together with Teagasc pilot a combined MAS and GS approach for simultaneous selection for resistance and processing quality. SaKa’s extensive potato breeding populations can serve for validation of newly identified genetic markers for resistance against emerging pests in elite backgrounds.
SaKa can exploit its kinship with Solana Group’s Advisory Service for country-wide disease-surveillance using the crowdsource mobile app, as well as serving as site for exposing the potato differential set to local blight isolates.
As the only member with large-scale agricultural production in the IPMorama consortium, SaKa will lead the commercial-scale “living lab” pilot to test stakeholder co-creation routes for potato by applying the “best of” variety-centric IPM methods while growing a double-stacked potato ware variety in the final project year. This trial will be accompanied by a public field day, thus engaging stakeholders (farmers, advisers, breeders, input suppliers, etc.) with the help of WP4 and encouraging their close monitoring of the demonstration trial and disseminating the findings of variety-centric IPM best practices to their clients.
SaKa will support IPMorama’s outreach activities through Solana Group’s communication and dissemination channels such as social media, conference talks, and field days, and actively participate as source institution in workshops and trainings.