News on Potato Defects and Diseases from Northern America

Powdery scab is a potato disease that is difficult to manage and under certain environmental conditions powdery scab can be potentially devastating to susceptible potato varieties.

With clean seed potatoes recognized as the best defense against this new blackleg-causing pathogen, the demand for Dickeya testing is growing fast.

The potato industry may be losing a mainstay in the battle against psyllids, according to a recent Texas A&M AgriLife Research study.

The US federal government has given the final OK to three more types of potatoes genetically engineered by Boise’s J.R. Simplot Co. to resist Phytophthora - the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine.

French Fry manufacturer McCain Foods has started trials examining soil fumigation with several of its potato growers in Maine (United States) and New Brunswick (Canada).

North Carolina State University research delves into the movement and evolution of the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840's - Phytophthora infestans -, which set down roots in the United States before attacking Europe

The Plant Management Network (PMN) has released a new presentation entitled 'Epidemiology and Management of Potato White Mold' to help growers, consultants and extension agents understand how white mold persists and spreads

Esta nota analiza el problema de la degeneración de la semilla, detalla la estrategia propuesta del Programa del CGIAR de Raíces, Tubérculos y Banano, y describe cinco técnicas sencillas para mejorar la calidad de la semilla y aumentar la producción de papa.

A new potato variety that’s genetically modified to withstand bruising has been cleared for commercialization without undergoing USDA’s deregulatory process for biotech crops.

Cornell University receives $1.2 million of new state funding to upgrade the Federal Golden Nematode Lab

The North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) expect in the 5 covered countries (NL, B, FR, GB, DE) a lower production of potatoes (seed and potatoes.for starch production not included) compared to last season.

Justin Clements, a fifth year doctoral student in the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center working in the Department of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the recipient of the 2016-2017 NPC Academic Scholarship.

Potato psyllids have been reported in specific fields in western and central North Dakota. At this point populations are not widespread.

Participants at the 25th annual Texas Potato Breeding and Variety Development Program field day learned that the harvest is underway, that psyllids are threatening unharvested fields and that new varieties are showing lots of promise.

The heart of "Potato Country" in northeast North Dakota was devastated by baseball size hail that lasted up to 35 minutes last Tuesday night.

Manitoba's first case of late blight for the year was found in a western Manitoba field over the weekend.

Dickeya blackleg, often just called Dickeya, is a new disease in the United States. It was severe in 2015 at least partly reflecting hotter weather than previous 2 years when the pathogen likely was present and is developing again in 2016.

Several newly evolved strains of the disease known as potato virus Y, or PVY, can render potatoes unmarketable and reduce crop yield. What’s worse is the new viruses are particularly difficult to detect with the naked eye.