In 2022 staff of the Potato Research Institute in Nemishaieve sheltered from shelling in a cellar beside sacks of potatoes. But they never ate the breeding stock — it had to be preserved.
The institute's work was described in a report about the facility.
Nemishaieve lies a few kilometres from Bucha. In spring 2022 occupier columns stood here, while the gene pool of Ukrainian potatoes lay in the institute's cellar.
The people in that cellar understood a simple thing: eat the seed stock and the variety is gone for good. Everywhere, for everyone.
Today the institute works as before. It breeds new varieties, clears plants of viruses, experiments — and grows more than potatoes.
Working with the International Committee of the Red Cross, it supplied seed potatoes to front-line communities. The first harvest there is already in.
Clearing viruses is a core part of the work. Potatoes accumulate viruses generation after generation, and without that cleaning yields fall year by year.
The institute is one of the few facilities of its kind in Ukraine. And it stands a ten-minute drive from the town the world knows for March 2022.
As a reminder, potatoes are also the base of our German-style potato salad recipe.
Nota bene
Bucha FM is an independent news site and station for the Bucha district. We cover what matters to the community, and we work for you — and because of you. Joining the people who make this possible is simple: support us with any amount.
Comments
No comments yet — be the first.