News on Potato Defects and Diseases from United Kingdom

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...

Bill Watts has joined AHDB as Arable Knowledge Exchange Manager (Potatoes) for the West Midlands, South West and Wales.

The Potato Processing companies in the United Kingdom have released a statement through the Potato Processors’ Association Ltd (PPA), expressing their concern for the impact of current weather conditions on UK potato processing sector.

AHDB secured nine emergency authorisations for potato, herb, celery, carrot, parsnip, cherry and plum for UK growers to protect their crops.

Late Blight control strategies in the United Kingdom will have to change this season if potato growers are to combat the spread of a new aggressive, fungicide-insensitive/ resistant strain of the disease, leading agronomy firm Hutchinsons says.

Although PCN testing of soil for seed potato cultivation is typically strictly regulated, different procedures are in use for the testing of soil for ware potatoes - and which one is used has huge consequences for the reliability.

A research project aims to improve the accuracy of the ‘AHDB Potatoes potato cyst nematode (PCN) pallida calculator’ which is currently used as an educational forecasting tool for potato growers in the United Kingdom.

Following an investigation by the Animal and Plant Health Agency earlier this year, it has been confirmed that ulluco tubers imported into the UK from a number of different sources were infected by harmful viruses, highlighting that there is uncertainty about the disease status of this crop in general.

A genetically-modified (GM) Maris Piper designed to resist the devastating plant disease late blight has worked “brilliantly” during the first year of field trials, according to scientists of The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL)

The potato harvest in the United Kingdom was mostly without drama. Hopefully this doesn't change during the storage season. But watch the changes in the CIPC regulation.

As the potato harvest in the United Kingdom progresses, there are increasing reports of widespread scab.