News on Potato Defects and Diseases from the Americas

Researchers recommend potato growers in the Pacific Northwest intensify their field scouting programs for the potato psyllids that spread the crop disease zebra chip.

Oregon State University researchers say they've found two fields in their region harboring thousands of volunteer potato plants infected with the Liberibacter bacterium that causes the crop disease zebra chip.

The Plant Pathology Department at North Dakota State University will again be providing the potato Blightline service at no charge to the potato industry of North Dakota and western Minnesota in 2012.

A highly cited recent article in the Idaho Falls based Post Register stated that there were new detections of Potato Cyst Nematodes in Idaho. The headline also made it to PotatoPro's News updates. The Idaho Potato Commission has provided a statement c...

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture say a microscopic parasite that damages potato crops has been found in three more eastern Idaho fields, bringing the number of infected fields to 15.

The International Potato Center (CIP) announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation.Jan Kreuze, Ph.D., principal virologist at CIP, will pursue an innovative global hea...

Internal Heat Necrosis, or IHN, has many aliases. They include internal brown spot, physiological internal necrosis, internal browning, internal brown fleck, and chocolate spot. Whatever you choose to call this physiological disorder, it is an economi...

Barcodes may bring to mind the sales tags and scanners found in supermarkets and other stores. But U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are using 'DNA barcodes'to monitor insects that damage crops as diverse as wheat, barley and potatoes, and to make pest management decisions.

Climate Change is adversely impacting potato farming in Peru’s Andes, according to recent findings at the International Potato Center (CIP). More than 10 years of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping reveal that farmers have ascended the Andes...

Prince Edward Island's potato industry has nothing to fear from Ottawa's decision to stop providing a spray-down service for vehicles at the Newfoundland ferry terminals, says Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.

Wisconsin River Co-op recently announced that it has purchased Pest Pros Inc., an independent crop consulting firm and plant disease diagnostic laboratory located in Plainfield, Wisconsin. Pest Pros provides a range of crop management services to assi...

Much of Maine's seed potato supply for this year is infected with blight, and the state has asked the federal government for an emergency exemption to make an effective but expensive toxic seed treatment available to growers.

Volunteer potatoes in Michigan are surviving winters in increasing numbers, providing a bridge for late blight from one season to the next.

New Brunswick potato farmer Henk Tepper strode through the Ottawa International Airport on Saturday afternoon and into the arms of his wife and two daughters for the first time in more than a year. Tepper returned to Canada after being held in a Leban...

A Senator says New Brunswick farmer Henk Tepper has been released from a Lebanese jail after being held for a year on allegations he exported rotten potatoes to Algeria. Senator Pierrette Ringuette says in a statement that Tepper is expected to arrive...

One year, it's the potato tuber worm;another year, it's the beet leafhopper.

Idaho potatoes are still at the discussion table five years after a potato cyst nematode outbreak threatened crops in Bonneville and Bingham counties.

Insecticide resistance management is not always on the minds of potato growers when faced with menacing crop pests, but straying from the recommended usage guidelines can eventually make the situation much worse.