News on Research from United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, farming minster George Eustice (DEFRA) has approved a four-year trial of genetically modified (GM) potatoes at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich.

AHDB Potatoes will use this year’s Seed Industry Event on 3 November to review the industry’s current approach to controlling blackleg. The biennial conference, held this year in St Andrews, will also provide growers with an insight into the potential impact of Brexit, and scope out the potato market, both at home and abroad.

Work to make potatoes more nutritious by including nanoparticles in the fertilizer formulation is proving promising, according to the AHDB-funded researcher Karen Davies

Waste from potato crops could be ‘recycled’ into personal care products such as medical gels and beauty creams – thanks to a new University of East Anglia (UEA) research project.

A team of scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) have developed a new method to accelerate isolation of plant disease resistance genes and - using their new method - a brand new source of blight resistance genes in Solanum americanum, a wild relative of the potato.

Elveden Farms, a West Suffolk estate is set to become a Regional Research & Demonstration Hub for potato growers and suppliers, thanks to funding from the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative.

Dr Jon Pickup, Head of Virology & Zoology at Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) will lead on one of three AHDB Potatoes Fellowship Awards, specifically seeking to secure critical potato nematology expertise for the future.

Leatherhead Food International Limited was acquired by Science Group and will move to a new facility early 2016.

A new two year research project will harness the latest aeronautic industry technology to develop testing tools that will help crop store owners to optimise the efficiency of their premises.

Researchers in the United Kingdom aim for a new commercial potato that resists many of the worst vulnerabilities of potato crops around the world.

To combat tumbling potato consumption, NFU Scotland has urged the industry’s statutory levy body to consider shifting its funding emphasis from research and development to more promotion.

Experts from the UK and India are working together to identify and develop novel environmentally-sustainable strategies to control plant pests, known as plant-parasitic nematodes to ensure global food production and security.

Researchers at the Universities of Dundee and Aberdeen have made a breakthrough in understanding how the microbial spores which cause potato blight are so effective at infecting plants.

Leatherhead Food Research is delighted to announce the appointment of Alice Cadman as Head of Business Development & Marketing, starting 27 May 2014

This week saw the Potato Council division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of its Sutton Bridge Crop Storage Research (SBCSR) facility, near Spalding in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

In response to European concerns over high levels of the carcinogen acrylamide in processed foods, researchers are looking to reduce dietary levels of the chemical by developing a new variety of potato.

Researchers led by Professor Bruce Fitt, now at the University of Hertfordshire, have used modern DNA techniques on late nineteenth-century potatoes to show how the potato blight may have survived between cropping seasons after the Irish potato famine ...

The days of a few big varieties dominating the potato market are over, with breeding programmes becoming more focused on delivering sustainable varieties for specific markets.