News on Potato Defects and Diseases from United Kingdom

Potato industry challenges posed by PCN and blackleg were among the topics discussed at the recent Cambridge University Potato Growers’ Association (CUPGRA) annual conference.

Following an upward trend in wireworm damage in root vegetable and cereal crops throughout the UK, industry leaders have joined forces to co-fund a Fera-led R&D project to find an end-to-end solution

Potato industry leaders in Great Britain who are driving forward proposals for a new representative organization funded by voluntary subscriptions say they have a 'clear mandate' to make plans for the next stage.

An innovative method of controlling a range of damaging crop diseases using native, beneficial soil bacteria has emerged from a research-industry collaboration.

Seed breeders work closely with potato growers to develop desirable agronomic traits, and with the wider supply chain for those crucial characteristics such as dry matter distribution, sugar formation, and storability.

Waitrose and Partners is set to be the first major retailer to sign up to The UK Robust Potato Pledge, which will see the group move away from the use of copper-based fungicides on organic fresh potatoes in order to combat late blight Phytophthora.

After the Plant Health Centre led a working Group to identify a clear strategy for dealing with the Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) crisis, a report was delivered to the Scottish Government.

Crop4Sight’s online and mobile digital toolkit is designed to help growers maximise saleable potato yields and was launched as a commercial service in 2020. Crop4Sight now adds a potato irrigation scheduling tool.

This season AHDB (United Kingdom) is receiving a lot of reports of high levels of softening, dehydration and compression damage from potato store managers.

Plant scientists at the James Hutton Institute are studying the evolution of late blight in potato by working with industry and research partners to track the distribution and diversity of dominant clones in Europe in 2020

New research to tackle the growing scourge of Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) has been identified by a specialist Scottish Government working group.

To ensure the research AHDB funds has the biggest impact and benefit for the potato industry, they work to connect growers with researchers and scientists with initiatives like their Strategic Spot Farms.

The continued wet weather in late October/early November in the United Kingdom has extended the harvesting season beyond eight weeks for some, which is clearly not good news where stores have been part-filled and cooling systems unable to function correctly.

Sowing wildflowers into potato crops could reduce aphid-carried viruses and offer an alternative to declining access to insecticides for growers.

Gowan Crop Protection Limited, an affiliate of Gowan Co. LLC., has entered into agreements with Bayer AG to acquire rights to the active ingredients fenamidone and pencycuron.

Potato processors in the United Kingdom and their growers express again extreme concern about the potato supply, due to wet weather and potato varieties grown for processing in particular affected.

Recent research at the James Hutton Institute suggests that limited genetic differences in potato lineages has left British and American spuds vulnerable to late blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine.

After some 36 years with AHDB and its predecessor organisations, Potato Specialist Mike Storey is going to retire at Christmas. His colleague Adrian Cunnington looks back...