WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first cultivated potato was grown in what is now Peru, researchers said on Monday, and it originated only once, not several times, as some experts had proposed.
Their genetic study shows the first potato known to have been farmed is genetically closest to a species now found only in southern Peru, the U.S. and British researchers said.
“This result shows the potato originated one time and from a species that was distributed in southern Peru,” said David Spooner, a U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher at the University of Wisconsin who, led the study.