News on Potato Defects and Diseases from Northern America

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.

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.

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.

The PEI Potato Quality Institute (PQI) has expanded their facility in the West Royalty Industrial Park to offer local potato farmers more efficient disease testing, thanks to investments made by the federal and provincial governments and industry partners.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has completed all potato cyst nematode(PCN) soil sampling and testing for the 2011 seed potato crop, and PCN was not detected.

President Obama's budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 proposes cutting $700 million in the USDA's spending levels.The amount represents a 3 percent cut from FY 2012 USDA spending levels.

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Darrel J. Aubertine today announced that the Department, in conjunction with USDA, is removing more than 300,000 acres from regulation for golden nematode.

Thanks to investigations by scientists-turned-detectives with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other agencies, potato growers in the western United States and abroad now know the identities of the pathogen-insect duo responsible for outbre...