Yukon Gold Potato - Variety Development

Variety Development

In the 1900s many Dutch and Belgian immigrants began setting in the “Banana Belt” region of southern Ontario. Many of these immigrants began vegetable farming around the towns of Simcoe, Leamington and Harrow along the shore of Lake Erie. In the 1950s the vegetable growers of this region began petitioning for the breeding rights and licensing for a yellow fleshed potato variety as they were used to growing in Europe. For Gary Johnston this began the nearly 30 year development of the Yukon Gold Potato.

In 1953, Johnston took over the potato development lab at the Ontario Agriculture College at the University of Guelph. In 1959 one of Johnston’s graduate students, a young man originally from Peru, told him of a small, rough, deep yellowed flesh potato that was grown by the indigenous communities in his home country. In Lima this potato variety is considered a delicacy due to its bright color and distinct flavor. After trying these Peruvian potatoes, Johnston starting thinking about creating a variety that would have the same colour and flavor characteristics as these potatoes but would be larger in size and have a smoother shape similar to the potatoes being grown in the “Banana Belt”. In 1966 the development team made their first cross between a W5289-4 (2x cross between Yema de huevo and 2x Katahdin) and a Norgleam potato native to North Dakota. After the 66th cross that year, true seed was produced and the G6666 was created.