In the face of unpredictable crises, self-sufficient and resilient societies become crucial, especially for remote countries like Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, which are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Growing potatoes for self-consumption ensures food security during urgent challenges. In recent years, the topic of food safety has entered the European agenda. Globally, people recognize potatoes as a food security crop and as one of the essential crops for self-sufficiency. Compared to other major crops, they produce nutritious food quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates.

The main challenge for non-commercial growers (and hobby growers) is the limited availability of small quantities of healthy seed potatoes for locally bred and heritage varieties. Current legislation and market conditions limit the availability of local varieties, which shortens supply chains and enhances food security and sovereignty.

To address this, the MainPotRe project identifies legislative bottlenecks and develops policy recommendations to expand the registration of heritage varieties. Recommendations are also prepared to facilitate the availability of certified seed potatoes for modern varieties in small amounts for non-commercial growers. By the beginning of 2025, we will develop new marketing strategies for modern local varieties to enhance the availability of small quantities of healthy seed potatoes. We also work on creating a toolbox for non-commercial growers to facilitate the distribution of potato material from gene banks to make available less known and, so far, practically unavailable varieties from the gene banks.

In the project's first period, various events raised awareness about the value of local potato varieties in Latvia and Estonia. Participants gained knowledge from Finland's experience, where the municipal level values heritage potatoes. Public engagement through media and events emphasized the importance of potatoes in food security and the need for healthy planting materials to preserve variety characteristics and harvest quality. We have also voiced our opinions on relevant articles in the EC's proposed regulation on plant reproductive material to both national authorities and the European Commission.

By improving the availability of healthy planting material and promoting local and heritage potato varieties, the MainPotRe project will build resilient communities in the Northern Baltic region. This initiative, which has the support of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region program for 2021–2027, will promote self-sufficiency, improve food security, preserve cultural and culinary heritage, and strengthen community ties, resulting in more resilient economies and societies.