Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Canary Islands’ ancient potatoes under threat from climate change and pests
The ancient potato, one of the hallmarks of Canarian agriculture, is facing fresh challenges that threaten its survival in the islands’ fields. Climate change, the spread of pests and the arrival of more resistant varieties are transforming a crop that is also suffering from the abandonment of smallholdings.
That is the assessment of Domingo Ríos, a doctor in Agricultural Engineering from the University of La Laguna and a specialist with more than thirty years of experience in the sector, speaking at the presentation of the project ‘Agrosistemas del cultivo de la papa en la isla de Tenerife’ (Farming systems for potato cultivation on the island of Tenerife).
Drought, floods and a crop that can no longer rely on rain alone
Among the main challenges, climate change is altering the conditions in which potatoes have traditionally been grown in Tenerife. Successive periods of drought, increasingly irregular rainfall and, as happened this year, episodes of heavy rain and flooding are making it harder to plan harvests and increasing dependence on irrigation.
A report by the Agriculture Service of the Tenerife Cabildo warned back in 2024 that drought and the heatwave had compromised tuber yields in the mid-altitude areas, with reductions of more than 50 per cent of the potential harvest in certain zones. And if the problem then was a lack of water, this year the excess of rain on a crop that was not prepared for it has caused, according to Ríos, waterlogging and suffocation problems in the fields, wiping out much of the production in numerous plots.
Drip irrigation becomes indispensable even in traditional dry-farming areas
This transformation is also reflected in the way farmers work. Domingo Ríos notes that localised irrigation, particularly drip irrigation, has spread to become an almost indispensable tool on many smallholdings, even in areas such as the Teno Massif, where dry farming predominated just a few decades ago. “Today it is unthinkable not to irrigate potatoes, because you could barely grow them at all,” he explains.
A shift that also extends to technology, mechanisation and the agricultural landscape itself, marked in recent years by greater abandonment of land.
Ten guides map the island’s distinct potato-growing systems
These differences are especially visible between the island’s various farming systems, whose unique characteristics have been documented in the project driven by the Cabildo, the Rural Action Group and the University of La Laguna, under Ríos’s own direction. The work has produced ten guides, with two more to follow shortly, covering the main potato-producing areas of Tenerife. The aim, according to the councillor for the Primary Sector, Valentín González, is to “protect this legacy against the current challenges facing the rural environment” and to preserve a crop that “not only represents a fundamental pillar of gastronomy” but also forms part of the “identity of the mid-altitude areas”.
The guides gather information on cultivation practices, varieties, soil types and other characteristics specific to each territory, with the aim of recording and highlighting the particular features of each farming system and offering a visual tool that makes them easy to understand and study. For now, the guides cover the areas of Icod El Alto, San Juan de la Rambla and La Guancha, the Valley of La Orotava, the zone between La Esperanza and Ravelo, Vilaflor, the mid-altitude areas of southern Tenerife, the Teno Rural Park and the chestnut-and-potato farming system of Acentejo. Anaga and the area between Icod de los Vinos and El Tanque will be added shortly.
Guatemalan moth and mildiu: two fronts in the battle against disease
Added to these changes is the advance of pests and diseases, another front that increasingly conditions cultivation in the islands. The Guatemalan moth has been one of the main problems for years. Present in the Canary Islands since 1999, its larvae penetrate the tubers and carve out tunnels that can cause rotting and leave the potato without commercial value. Controlling it requires a combination of surveillance and prevention measures both in the field and in storage, since “there is no single solution to halt its spread”.
However, despite the importance of this insect, Ríos is now focusing on another threat which, he explains, “has taken on particular significance this year”: mildiu (potato blight), a disease that also rots tubers, among other parts of the plant. So much so that the Cabildo’s Technical Agriculture Service considers it “the most serious disease affecting potato cultivation in the Canary Islands” and warns that its rapid spread, when favourable humidity and temperature conditions occur, can “destroy plantations in less than 15 days”.
The researcher notes that the emergence of new races and hybrids, some more virulent and less responsive to treatments used until now, is complicating its control. “New strategies are needed,” he argues, estimating that this year the disease, together with other pests, could have contributed to a loss of close to 50 per cent of the harvest.
Andean varieties gain ground as concerns grow over genetic erosion
On top of all this, new Andean varieties are gradually gaining ground on the ancient potatoes. These are tubers from Venezuela, Colombia and, more recently, Peru. Species that are not part of the traditional heritage but are highly valued by both farmers and consumers for their “better yield” and “resistance” to diseases — such as mildiu — drought and even frost.
In fact, Ríos points out that the peruanita is “present in numerous fields” and has spread rapidly through highly valuable areas in the north of the island, such as Icod el Alto, considered the birthplace of this food in Tenerife. The consequence is that a farmer who once devoted a plot to an ancient variety may now choose another that offers more guarantees against adverse conditions and a greater yield, without forgoing a good-quality product.
It is precisely this progressive displacement that leads the researcher to speak of the need to study possible genetic erosion — that is, the loss of local varieties, 29 of which are protected by the Protected Designation of Origin, that have accumulated unique characteristics over centuries. The ancient potatoes of the Canary Islands constitute a singular reserve of agricultural biodiversity, and their conservation depends not only on keeping them in germplasm banks but also on ensuring they continue to be grown in the fields.
What’s happening in the Canaries – straight to your phone
News, weather alerts and practical updates – direct from the islands, in English. We live here and know what’s going on – before the international media catch up. Everything lands on our WhatsApp channel – no middlemen, no algorithm. Curated for families, expats and travelers.
Tenerife deploys drones to cut drowning deaths
Gran Canaria wildfire breaks out in Telde
Court backs Chira-Soria power plant in Gran Canaria
Twelve earthquakes recorded across the Canary Islands
The Tenerife ghost town built for lepers who never came
La Palma’s quantum telescope project to boost island economy
Canary Islands forests store 25% more carbon than thought
New map reveals 60+ closed beaches in Canary Islands
Tenerife strikes deep geothermal milestone
