News on Potato Defects and Diseases

JR Simplot has applied at FSANZ for approval to export genetically modified potato products into Australia and New Zealand. Unclear is what type of products this is about, but unprocessed potatoes can not be imported.

Plant Biosecurity CRC scientists have identified stable regions in the genome of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso), which causes the serious disease Zebra Chip in potato and tomato crops. This research will provide new diagnostics that will significantly reduce uncertainty in biosecurity assessments.

Pressure from the tiny, winged insects that spread zebra chip disease in potatoes has been light in Idaho this season, emboldening some Idaho farmers to scale back on their pesticide programs.

Zambia and South Africa may be perfectly at peace, but farmers on either side of the Limpopo River - the border between the two countries - seem engaged in a trade war. And it is mostly about potatoes...

Within 30 days into potato cultivation this year, growers in Hassan, Karnataka are losing hope of good returns in their field. The poor germination is linked by experts to the lack of rainfall.

Two recently released new Russet varieties - Castle Russet and Echo Russet - should help the potato industry in the Pacific Northwest cope with more stringent regulations on soil fumigants

UMaine scientists say farmers could try to protect their potato crop by utilizing agricultural practices — including crop rotations and push-pull strategies — to create field conditions that favor Colorado potato beetle cannibalism.

Scientists have identified a version of a single gene involved in the heat stress response that is more active in potato types that can tolerate high temperature, potentially providing potato breeders a tool to make potato varieties less vulnerable to increased temperature.

Last week on 15 & 16 June, the Europatat Congress 2017 took place. Feedback on the congress and side events has been extremely positive.

A survey done in 20 counties in Kenya released earlier this month, shows that Potato Cyst Nematode infestation has reached 80 to 100 per cent in some of the potato growing areas.

Seed potato growers on Kangaroo Island - an island off the mainland of South Australia - are successfully adopting a new strategy to manage the aphids and thrips pestering their crops, taking on expert advice from agronomists and entomologists to adopt integrated pest management for these insect pests.

Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner this week announced that Colorado State University will receive $264,600 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study the spread of pathogens in U.S potato crops.

In the United Kingdom, farming minster George Eustice (DEFRA) has approved a four-year trial of genetically modified (GM) potatoes at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich.

The Northwest Potato Research Consortium recently approved a combined $1.5 million in grant funding to 37 research projects.

The potato disease Dickeya can be detected by laboratory testing — but is there enough of it present to justify the higher costs? That is the question facing Canadian Seed Potato Growers exporting to the United States who are increasingly asked for the test.

Years before that french fry landed on your plate, the plant that would eventually give rise to the spud your fry was cut from was sealed away deep in a secure-access building, growing slowly in a test tube inside a locked growth chamber.

Buntata is a collaborative effort between the University of St Andrews and the James Hutton Institute to enable open access to our information resources and put them at the fingertips of potato growers.

A partnership between Idaho State University and Boise State University has been awarded an Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission (IGEM) grant to research the application of the Humigator in potato storage.