Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Stepping up fight against potato blight

Heather Hughes
Heather Hughes

Potato industry fears over the spread of the new Dark Green 37 strain of blight to England last year have prompted an appeal for more potato “scouts” to be on standby this season.

As tattie growers continue to wait for the right conditions to start planting the 2018 crop, AHDB Potatoes has stepped up its decade-old Fight Against Blight (FAB) campaign with a new app to help farmers and agronomists respond to blight outbreaks by photographing crops in field and sending samples of plants for analysis.

Gardeners and allotment owners are also being targeted to join the industry’s team of voluntary blight “scouts” which provides information on where infection is concentrated.

A typical blight pressure season can cost the industry an estimated £55million a year and since its detection in 2013, the EU 37 strain, which is insensitive to the key fungicide Fluazinam, has been found in areas of Belgium, Germany, north-west France and England, leading to fears it could spread to Scotland.

Perth-based WCF Horticulture, which buys seed from 44 mainly local growers and is the largest packer of seed potatoes to the horticultural market, is behind the campaign to harness the support of gardeners.

The company was the first Safe Haven accredited packer of seed potatoes in the UK and has a long-standing relationship with Safe Haven growers.

General manager Heather Hughes said: “It’s very important that we look out for one another as an industry so including gardeners and allotment owners in the fight against blight makes sense,” she said.

The Safe Haven scheme covers 60% of all seed production in Great Britain.