News on Potato Defects and Diseases

Advanced post-harvest technologies are helping cut food waste, reduce carbon emissions, improve storage efficiency, and strengthen sustainable food supply chains through AI, IoT, precision sorting, renewable energy, and smart cold storage solutions.

Hutton Scientific Services launched a commercial potato virus testing service for the 2026 United Kingdom seed potato campaign. The new service offers PLRV and PVY testing following SASA's withdrawal, supporting crop health and market confidence.

Around 70 Dutch seed potato growers watched an autonomous robot identify virus-infected plants during a field demonstration. The robot marks infected plants for easier manual removal, while automated removal is being explored for future versions.

The invasive serpentine leafminer has been detected in Tasmania for the first time after being found at a commercial grower in the state's north-west. The pest attacks more than 200 plant species, including potatoes, and can reduce crop yields.

Ohalo and Allied Potato form a strategic partnership to advance Boosted potato breeding, combining Ohalo Boosted Breeding platform with Allied Potato expertise to develop higher-yield disease-resistant potatoes and explore potato seed systems.

East African potato farmers face rising costs from late blight. Through the Crop Trust's BOLD project, breeders and farmers are testing potatoes with wild resistance traits to cut spraying, lower costs and improve food security in Kenya and Uganda.

Europatat welcomes the EU’s adoption of the NGT Regulation, opening new opportunities for innovative potato varieties with improved disease resistance, climate adaptability, and processing traits, while boosting breeding research and investment.

Modern potatoes are bred from a relatively narrow genetic pool, while the diseases and environmental pressures affecting potato production continue to evolve.

Wageningen and the Dutch government are moving forward with a field trial of NTG-edited potatoes to strengthen resistance to late blight and reduce pesticide use, in a context of regulatory change in the European Union.

The National Potato Council and 13 state potato organizations in the United States have urged the USDA to reinstate a ban on fresh potato imports from Prince Edward Island following a new Potato Wart detection.

FAO announced International Day of Potato 2026 theme 'Where potatoes grow, livelihoods flourish', highlighting role of potatoes in food security and farmer livelihoods. Focus on smallholders, resilient value chains, climate and pest challenges.

Royal HZPC Group continues growing its global seed potato volume above 1.1 million tonnes during the 2025/2026 financial year, despite global potato market pressure, lower prices, weaker demand and declining margins.

HyFarm partners with Sri BioAesthetics Pvt. Ltd. to deploy microbiome-driven soil immunity, reducing diseases and improving potato yield, seed quality, and processing consistency via SoilFirst™ trials in Gujarat and Punjab.

To combat the decline in the number of growers and in domestic production, the government is authorizing trials with GMO varieties, a disruptive move by European standards.

KTH researchers developed peptide CS5 targeting Phytophthora infestans, cause of potato late blight. It blocks a key enzyme, stopping infection without harming crops and offering a sustainable alternative to chemical sprays as climate change spreads.

Researchers at Michigan State University have developed five new potato varieties designed to strengthen the United States potato chip supply through improved disease resistance, storage performance and processing reliability.

A 16-year study by Michigan State University finds heat is the main driver of Colorado potato beetle populations, with precipitation and soil conditions also influencing outbreaks, aiding better pest forecasting and crop protection.

Wageningen University & Research starts new field trials with genetically modified potatoes. The potatoes tested in these field trials have been genetically modified by adding or switching off multiple genes.