Making better potatoes for chips consumes decades of research time

The Science Behind Your Potato Chips: How Researchers Are Revolutionizing America’s Favorite Snack

There’s a surprising amount of science in a bag of potato chips.

For decades, researchers have been meticulously developing potatoes that can withstand various climates, resist diseases and pests, endure months in storage, and still deliver the satisfying crunch consumers expect. This ongoing scientific effort supports not only America’s snacking habits but also contributes to global food security and regional economies.

At Michigan State University, Professor David Douches leads the Potato Breeding and Genetics Program, where innovation meets agriculture. “The potato industry is dynamic,” Douches explains. “The needs change, the costs, the pressures that they have, and the markets change. So we have to adapt to that with our varieties.”

Douches’ work has yielded impressive results, including five new potato varieties specifically developed for chips in the past 15 years. His latest breakthrough represents a significant advance in food preservation: a bioengineered potato capable of maintaining proper sugar balance when stored at colder temperatures, potentially reducing waste by preventing rot. This new variety is currently growing seeds for commercial testing before market introduction.

The impact of such research extends far beyond American snack aisles. Douches has developed disease-resistant varieties that help fight world hunger in countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and Bangladesh. Simultaneously, his work bolsters Michigan’s $2.5 billion potato industry, which leads the nation in producing potatoes specifically for chips, despite Idaho’s overall dominance in potato production.

The chip potato ecosystem is surprisingly diverse, with approximately 50 unique potato varieties currently grown for chips across the United States. This variety development is coordinated through the National Chip Program, a collaborative effort between Michigan State and 11 other university breeding programs, growers, chip manufacturers, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Innovation never stops in this field. “The National Chip Program evaluates around 225 new potato varieties each year and selects 100 for further trials,” says Tim Rendall, director of production research at Potatoes USA, the trade group overseeing the chip program.

This close collaboration between researchers, farmers, and potato chip companies creates an unusual partnership in the food industry. Phil Gusmano, vice president of purchasing at Better Made Snack Foods—a Detroit-based company producing chips since 1930—has experienced this firsthand, working closely with Douches during the development of two varieties his company currently uses.

“We were able talk about size profile and different needs that make a really good chip,” Gusmano says. “And the great thing is, they’re willing to listen to what we have to say, because if they put together a potato that doesn’t really meet the needs for the end processor, it doesn’t do them any good.”

Creating a new potato variety isn’t a quick process. Douches explains that breeding a new type can take up to 15 years, partly because potatoes have a surprisingly complicated genetic structure with four chromosomes in each cell compared to two in most species, including humans. This complexity makes predicting trait inheritance particularly challenging.

“We’re never able to fix a trait and carry that over to the next generation, so it’s very difficult to find a potato that has all the traits that we want,” Douches says.

One of the biggest challenges in Douches’ 40-year career has been developing potatoes that can endure long-term storage. Traditionally, farmers stored harvested potatoes in huge piles at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Any colder, and sugar levels rise within the potatoes, resulting in darker chips—an undesirable outcome for manufacturers and consumers alike. Yet warmer storage increases the risk of rot.

“You think they’re just these inanimate objects, but they actually are respiring and breathing,” Douches explains. “When you do that to them, you’ve got, like, a two- to three-day window where they’re happy.”

His breeding innovations have dramatically extended that window. The Manistee variety, released in 2013, can be safely stored until July at 45 degrees Fahrenheit. His newest bioengineered potato pushes the boundaries even further, remaining viable at 40 degrees.

These advances translate directly to business benefits and environmental improvements. Gusmano notes that Better Made once had to source potatoes from outside Michigan for half the year because locally harvested potatoes only lasted until February. Now, using newer varieties like Douches’ Mackinaw potato—which remains viable until July and resists several common diseases—the company has transformed its supply chain.

“We’re not shipping potatoes from all over the country to be fried here in Michigan,” Gusmano says. “Instead, they’re being shipped from an hour and a half away all year long.”

This localization represents a win for regional agriculture, reduced transportation emissions, and the beloved crunch in that bag of potato chips—a testament to how agricultural science continues to shape our everyday experiences in ways we rarely consider.