July/August 2021 - 35

KNOW SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE FEATURED?
Email Zeke Jennings at zjennings@greatamericanpublish.com
or call 616-520-2159
Spudman7
Q&A
WITH
David Holm
David Holm has had a significant impact on the quality of potato varieties
available to growers today. For 43 years, Holm has led the breeding program
at Colorado State University, where he's helped develop nearly three dozen
varieties in production and collaborated on another 20-plus. Holm is about to
call it a career, but his impact will continue for decades to come.
Potato farming is a big part of the culture in
southeastern Idaho. Did you know early on that
you wanted to work with potatoes?
There were a lot of things that pushed me toward having a career
working with potatoes. Being raised on a potato farm in Southeast
Idaho was just one of them. Probably the most influential were
my dad and grandfather. Also, a seventh-grade science teacher
encouraged our class to start thinking about potential careers. I
enjoyed science and coupling that with my dad and grandfather's
interest in trying new potato varieties, it helped my career start to
gain vision. I decided that potato research was what I wanted to do.
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What would be a project or two from your career that you
feel especially proud of?
The overarching project for my career was potato breeding. Over the last
43 years, my program developed 33 new varieties, including clonal selections
and cooperated with other universities and agencies in developing another 21
varieties. All of the potato market classes are represented by these varieties. I also
have had the opportunity to work with several great collaborators in the study of
health promoting traits of potato. We released Purple Majesty in 2005. Its healthpromoting
attributes are more studied than most any other potato in the world.
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What is the most
common desired trait
you hear from growers
they want in newer varieties?
Disease resistance is commonly
mentioned. Usually mentioned is
resistance to PVY, soft rot, tobacco
rattle virus and potato mop-top virus.
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What do you enjoy doing
away from work?
Gardening, yard work and
flying my wife's drone. We also enjoy
visiting our children and grandchildren.
I also enjoy being involved in the San
Luis Valley Regional Science Fair and
Colorado Science and Engineering Fair.
After getting your undergrad
and master's degrees from UI,
you moved to a Ph.D. program at
Minnesota. What attracted you to that?
As I was nearing the completion of my master's
degree, I started applying to various universities to
do a Ph.D. program. The University of Minnesota
was on the list. They had very good potato research
programs. When I was offered an assistantship, I
knew that was where I needed to go. It was a great
experience for me.
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What have been the
biggest advancements
in potato breeding
during your career?
Collectively, anything related to
molecular breeding of potatoes has
been a major advancement. Poised to
be another major advancement is diploid
breeding of potatoes. Time will tell!
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What is your favorite
way to eat potatoes?
I like to eat potatoes in
virtually every form and method of
preparation. For me, it is mostly a
function of variety attributes and
what methods of preparation they
are best suited for.
Spudman * July/August 2021
35

July/August 2021

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