Nehe Potatoes

Nehe Potatoes

Nehe Potatoes are a Geographical Indication Protected Product.

Nehe Potatoes are a Geographical Indication Certified Trademark.

　　Nehe City is renowned as the "Hometown of Potatoes," producing one quarter of the province’s total potato yield. With an annual planting area of 400,000 mu and an output exceeding 500,000 tons per year. Its fresh potatoes, Snowflake brand potato starch, and Gangjin brand vermicelli and sheets have all been awarded the Green Food

　　Nehe City has a temperate continental monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 0.7°C. During the potato tuber formation period from June to August, the average temperature is 19.7°C, and rainfall reaches 300.8 mm, accounting for about 67% of the annual total. This period also features significant diurnal temperature variation, which is highly conducive to the swelling of potato tubers. The city has 4.5 million mu of arable land, situated in one of the world’s three major black soil zones, with 90% of the soil being black calcium soil rich in organic matter. Over 80% of the cultivated land is suitable for potato cultivation, with an annual planting area of around 40,000 hectares—peaking at 70,000 hectares in some years—and an average yield of 22.5 tons per hectare. Due to these favorable natural conditions, many potato research institutions use Nehe as a base for variety trials and demonstrations. With high-yielding new varieties offering greater benefits, farmers are highly motivated to grow them. Currently, over 20 different potato varieties are cultivated in Nehe, offering a wide range of types.

　　Although Nehe does not have a long history of potato cultivation, it boasts a large and widespread planting area. Farmers have accumulated extensive experience in growing potatoes. Nehe is also among the first regions in China to engage in the production of virus-free seed potatoes, with specialized seed-growing villages demonstrating high technical proficiency. The city places great emphasis on the research and promotion of potato cultivation techniques. In the mid-1990s, agricultural technicians developed the “Nehe Model” based on local conditions and advances in farming practices. This model includes: “Loosening and raking the soil, selecting seeds as needed, using virus-free seed potatoes, sprouting treatment, timely sowing, fertilizing for density control, disease prevention, and meticulous harvesting.” In research on high-starch processing potatoes, Nehe’s agricultural research departments began introducing high-starch and high-yield varieties from various regions in the 1990s for screening trials. Based on the production needs of processing enterprises, they developed a planting model combining early-, mid-, and late-maturing high-starch varieties. This approach enabled staggered harvesting, earlier processing, and an extended processing season, while also identifying suitable varieties. Among the introduced high-starch varieties, Yushu CA was selected for its exceptionally high starch content of up to 24%, and Kexin 13—a variety with 3 percentage points higher starch content than the previous leading type—was widely promoted. To date, Kexin 13 covers around 30,000 hectares annually in Nehe and set a record yield of 3,850 kg per mu in 1998. To support the development of the potato industry, technicians began researching and promoting mechanized planting techniques in 2000.

　　The protected geographical indication area for Nehe Potatoes includes the following 16 towns and townships under the jurisdiction of Nehe City, Heilongjiang Province: Nehe Town, Lahao Town, Laolai Town, Longhe Town, Xuetian Town, Tongnan Town, Jiu Jing Town, Ne’nan Town, Erkeqian Town, Changfa Town, — Town, Tongyi Town, Tongxin Township, Hesheng Township, Xingwang Township, and Kongguo Township.