Colombian Family Saves Native Potatoes Almost Lost and Dreams of Feeding Space Missions

High in the Colombian Andes, where rugged mountains have sustained farming communities for centuries, a family is leading an extraordinary mission to rescue one of the country’s greatest agricultural treasures: Colombian native potatoes that were once on the brink of disappearing.

Their work has already preserved dozens of colorful varieties — purple, red, black, yellow, and blue — that have survived for generations in Colombia’s highlands. Now, they are setting their sights even higher. One of their boldest ambitions is to develop high-value products made from these potatoes that could one day help feed astronauts during future space missions.

It is an ambitious vision rooted in an urgent reality: Many of these native potatoes, known locally as papas perdidas (“lost potatoes”), nearly vanished because farmers stopped growing them.

Why Colombia native potatoes almost disappeared

Colombia is home to more than 1,000 potato varieties, making it one of the world’s richest centers of potato biodiversity. Yet most consumers are familiar with only a handful of commercial white potatoes found in supermarkets. The reason lies largely in modern agriculture.

Commercial farming favors potatoes that are uniform in size and shape, easier to transport, and capable of producing large harvests. Many native potatoes are smaller, irregular, and adapted to high-altitude ecosystems, making them less attractive for large-scale commercial production.

As demand shifted toward standardized crops, wide traditional varieties gradually disappeared from farms.

According to the family behind the conservation initiative, before 2008, very few Colombians even talked about or consumed native potatoes. Without a viable market, farmers simply stopped planting them, putting decades — if not centuries — of agricultural heritage at risk.

The term “lost potatoes” does not mean the varieties became extinct, the family explains. Instead, they became forgotten by consumers and nearly abandoned by farmers.

A family project that became a conservation movement

Determined to reverse that trend, the family launched Tesoros Nativos in 2008. What began as a small family effort has since evolved into one of Colombia’s most recognized projects dedicated to conserving native potatoes while creating economic opportunities for rural communities.

Today, the initiative collaborates with more than 50 farming families across Boyaca, helping cultivate and market traditional potato varieties. Rather than storing seeds in vaults or collections, the project follows a much more practical approach.

Native potatoes cannot simply be preserved in storage indefinitely, or “put in a drawer,” as the family puts it. They must be planted season after season to remain alive. Each harvest ensures that these unique genetic resources continue evolving naturally in the environments where they have adapted for centuries.

A living museum in the Colombian Andes

The project expanded even further in 2020 with the opening of the Potato Biomuseum, located at nearly 2,800 meters (9,186 feet) above sea level on a 9,000-square-meter farm overlooking the Andes.

Unlike traditional museums, the Biomuseum is entirely alive.

Visitors can walk through fields where dozens of native potato varieties continue growing in the same high-altitude soils that have sustained them for generations.

The family says the museum is designed not only to showcase Colombia’s agricultural biodiversity but also to invite visitors from around the world to experience a living collection rather than simply viewing historical exhibits behind glass.

The greatest challenge isn’t saving potatoes

For the project’s leaders, preserving biodiversity is only part of the mission. The bigger challenge is ensuring that future generations continue farming.

Across rural Colombia, many young people leave agriculture in search of opportunities in larger cities, threatening the continuity of traditional farming knowledge. Tesoros Nativos believes conservation can only succeed if cultivating native potatoes becomes economically sustainable.

By connecting more than 50 farming families to new markets and promoting value-added products, the initiative hopes to convince younger Colombians that farming native potatoes can become a viable business — not merely a tradition worth remembering.

Without new generations taking over, both the potato varieties and the ancestral knowledge associated with them could disappear within decades.

Returning home to protect a family legacy

The project’s director represents the fifth generation of her farming family dedicated to cultivating native potatoes.

Rather than continuing a corporate career, she chose to return home to lead the family initiative, create employment opportunities for local communities, and preserve an agricultural legacy passed down through generations.

She also emphasizes the important role women play in protecting seeds, maintaining biodiversity, and ensuring traditional knowledge continues to be passed from one generation to the next. For her, safeguarding native potatoes goes beyond agriculture.

It is about protecting Colombia’s biodiversity, preserving cultural identity, and ensuring future generations inherit both the crops and the stories behind them.

From the Andes to outer space?

The future of Colombia’s native potatoes could extend far beyond local farms. Researchers and innovators are exploring ways to transform these potatoes into flour, healthy snacks, and other products with greater commercial value.

Several native varieties contain exceptionally high levels of antioxidants, making them attractive for functional foods and specialized nutrition.

Among the project’s most ambitious dreams is developing potato flour that could someday support long-duration space missions. As the project’s director puts it: “Why not create flour to feed NASA crews?”

While that goal remains aspirational, it reflects the same spirit that inspired the family’s conservation work nearly two decades ago: Believing that extraordinary possibilities begin with protecting what already exists.

For centuries, these potatoes sustained communities across the Colombian Andes. If projects such as Tesoros Nativos continue to thrive, they may one day contribute not only to preserving one of Colombia’s richest agricultural legacies but also to shaping the future of food — on Earth and perhaps even beyond.