Traditionally, yacón roots are grown by farmers at mid-elevations on the eastern slopes of the Andes descending toward the Amazon.

However, press reports of its use in Japan for its purported antihyperglycemic properties made the crop more widely known in Lima and other Peruvian cities.

Unlike many other root vegetables domesticated by the indigenous peoples of the Andes (ulluco, oca and mashua), yacón is not photoperiod sensitive and can produce a commercial yield in the subtropics, as well as in mountainous regions.

The rhizomes continually produce leafy shoots, while the storage roots are the principal economic product of the plant.

Outside of its traditional cultivation range, yacon is planted in a well-dug bed in early spring, near the time of the last expected frost.

Perennial rhizomes are left in the ground for propagating the next crop, or, alternatively, they can be kept in a refrigerator or buried away from freezing temperatures until spring.

The chemical composition of yacon varies depending on factors such as location, farming, the growing season, harvest time and the post-harvest temperature.

[12] The phenolic compounds enable epiphytic bacterial growth with very specific metabolic properties, inhibiting the attack of pathogens.

Polyphenols found in yacon leaves and bark produce an acrid and astringent flavour, as well as impart a typical odour.

[13] The tubers can be eaten raw, boiled, dehydrated, roasted or processed into beverages, jams, syrup, vinegar, flour, chips and juice.

While usable-sized edible tubers develop fairly early in the season, they taste much sweeter after they have matured and have been exposed to some frost.

[citation needed] In Andean folk medicine, yacón is used against liver and kidney disease whereas, in Bolivia, it is used against diabetes and digestive problems.

Effigies of edible food may have been placed at Moche burials for the nourishment of the dead, as offerings to lords of the other world, or in commemoration of a certain occasion.

[17] The yacón plant gets infected by different species such as nematodes, bacteria, fungi, viruses and insects.

The root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) leads to crop loss due to the various symptoms as poor growth and roots with characteristic galls.

A safe procedure is to take shoot axillary buds as ideal explants and a disinfection treatment with a sodium hypochlorite aqueous solution.

The presence of natural enemies and trap plants are control strategies to reduce herbivore damage in yacón cultivation.

The Yacon necrotic mottle virus infects yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius) and causes necrosis, chlorosis, stunting and malformation of leaves.