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

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 annual Potato Field Day in the High Plains featuring the Texas A&M University AgriLife Potato Breeding and Variety Development Program will be July 21.

Entomologist Ada Szczepaniec at Texas A&M AgriLife Research is addressing the concern of growing resistance of potato psyllids to the neonicotinoid classification of insecticides.

This year's major news of the Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program is a new early potato variety called Reveille Russet, a russet baking potato headed to the fresh market.

A multi-state research effort led by Texas A&M AgriLife Research to control the potato psyllid and reduce losses from zebra chip disease of potato will be recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

A decline in overall potato consumption has Texas A&M AgriLife Research breeders working on “designer” potatoes that meet the time constraints and unique tastes of a younger generation.

This webcast by the Plant Management Network on Potato Psyllids, responsible for the transfer of the Zebra chip disease consists of two parts:

Do potato psyllids migrate from one location to the next, starting in northern Mexico and moving northward as the potato season progresses, or are psyllid populations local?