Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are working on a new research project to fight plant diseases transmitted by psyllid insects — particularly the zebra chip disease, which has impacted potato production for decades.

Advances, including Texas french fry variety and nutrition qualities, to be discussed at National Potato Expo in Austin.

New potato varieties bred by the Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program could enter the french fry market before long, said Isabel Vales, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife potato breeder in the Department of Horticultural Sciences

Humble potatoes are a rich source not only of dietary carbohydrates for humans, but also of starches for numerous industrial applications. Texas A&M AgriLife scientists are learning how to alter the ratio of potatoes’

The USDA's National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) recently awarded four Potato Research grants  totaling USD 2.6 million  as part of their Special Research Grants program.

Del 30 de junio al 1 de julio se realizará de manera virtual el IX Congreso Ecuatoriano de la Papa, organizado por la Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi (UTC), el Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP), el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP) y la empresa AGNLATAM S.A.

Earlier this month Texas A&M held its annual Potato Field Day where it presented a range of new potato varieties.

Dirk Hays,Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant geneticist: “With Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), we can image the size of the tubers and get a correlation to the actual physical size of the potato without harvesting them. Potatoes are a dream for Ground Penetrating Radar.”

The Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathology team intentionally infected potato plants with psyllids positive with the bacterium that causes zebra chip disease, in order to identify promising germplasm in the battle against the disease plaguing the US potato industry for the past 15 years.