A jumbo El Nino expected in the months ahead is likely to have significant effects on global potato crops – perhaps both positive and negative. Yet CIP researchers are harnessing strategies now to help offset losses and maximize yields in the face of an unknown set of variables.

The full name of the climate phenomenon – the El Nino Southern Oscillation, or ENSO – is characterized by periodic increases and decreases in sea surface temperatures over the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean, says Roberto Quiroz, leader of CIP’s crop systems intensification and climate change center of excellence, which looks at the interaction between climate and agriculture.  When temperatures rise, it’s referred to as an El Nino cycle; when they drop, it’s a La Nina phase.