Can Potato still be saved ?
In addition to heat, late blight is threatening the potato harvest in Europe. In order to protect the harvest, farmers are dependent on plant protection products whose effectiveness and range of application are decreasing due to new EU regulations and the development of resistant and aggressive fungal strains of Phytophthora infestans .
This is an example of the urgent need for action. Waiting is not a solution, short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions must be addressed urgently.
In their EU action plan against late blight , the European potato associations propose concrete measures that include clear legal regulations for the new genomic techniques, but also the strengthening of research. Scientists from the Chair of Biochemistry (Dr. Sophia Sonnewald and Dr. Stephan Reinert) are working on sustainable solutions for organic potato cultivation in the joint project KarOLa (“Potato breeding for stress tolerance and suitability for processing in organic farming“) and support the EU-wide appeal. In order to remain internationally competitive, it is essential that scientists and breeders can work with the same basic toolbox as their competitors outside Europe.