Potatoes USA Seed Export Program Updates

John Lundeen, Production Research Director, and Tim Rendall, Associate Production Research Director

At Potatoes USA, Team Seed remains focused on priming the pump for future stable international seed sales opportunities.

Cuba Update

Cuba has the potential to become the largest export market for U.S. seed potatoes in the Americas outside of Canada. Cuba has average seed imports of 15,079 MT (331,738 cwt) over the last five years. However, Cuba does have a high bar for entering the market. Historically, variety registration required at least four years of trialing results.

Three varieties sent to Cuba for trials arrived in November 2024 and were planted by January 9, 2025, 45 days after arriving. While this may seem like a long time to clear seed potatoes for planting, it is shorter than the average time from port to field in Cuba, which has been 55 days for the four previous trials the U.S. has successfully planted. The trial was planted between January 6-9, and harvested on April 1. Yields were outstanding for Allegria, Soraya, and Golden Globe, despite the relatively short growing season of 81-84 days. We are optimistic that earlier planting will further increase the excellent results seen in this trial.

This was the fourth variety trial for Golden Globe, and the second for Eva, Soraya, and Alegria. Golden Globe was successfully registered, opening up Cuba to commercial sales of this variety. This is a major milestone for the Cuban trialing effort.

In October of this year shipments of Soraya (for further trials) and Golden Globe (for demonstration purposes) are planned. Cuban officials have expressed the potential to register Soraya after three of trials; thus, registration could be completed for this second variety after the harvest in March 2026.

Central and South America Update

Seed exports increased 61% from July 2024 to March 2025. This is driven by the resurgence of seed potatoes for the fresh market following decreased demand due to the pandemic.

Panama, Nicaragua, and Uruguay all imported U.S. seed potatoes for the first time since the pandemic. Uruguay has been importing the variety Red Magic from France for several years. French production issues led to an opportunity for U.S. seed suppliers to fill in the gap. Now, Uruguay is importing U.S.-produced Red Magic. There continues to be strong demand in Uruguay for new red-skinned seed potatoes and the standard variety, Chieftain.

Panama imported the variety Soraya. This importation is the direct result of the 2023 Potatoes USA variety trials. We hope sales will increase for Soraya and possibly for Golden Globe.

Nicaragua imported the variety Golden Globe, which was a direct result of the variety trials in 2023. The importer in Nicaragua will be increasing his order for Golden Globe and hopes to import other new varieties in the coming year. Potatoes USA will continue to promote other U.S. varieties in Nicaragua with trials in 2026.

Future Trial Plans

After successful market openings in Panama and Nicaragua, Potatoes USA will continue to open new markets for U.S. seed potato exporters. Potatoes USA is exploring the potential for trials in the Dominican Republic to expand beyond the chipping market (already receiving imports) to fresh market varieties. We also hope to continue variety trials in Honduras to register new varieties.

An importer in Honduras, with assistance from Potatoes USA, is attempting to register the variety Sound. Sound was trialed successfully in six sites in Honduras in 2024. If Sound is registered in Honduras, the importer will try to import U.S.-produced Sound later in 2025. Sound is an oblong pale-yellow variety with outstanding resistance to late blight. It has attracted the interest of Walmart and other retailers as a good fit for the Honduran market.