Faced with the threat of late blight, the potato industry calls for a European plan

The annual economic damage due to late blight in the European Union is estimated at around 900 million euros. “For the 2024 campaign, downy mildew already constitutes a significant threat in several European regions even before the end of planting,” indicate the eight professional organizations. The highly adaptive fungal pathogen is capable of rapidly developing resistance to single-site fungicides and breaking resistance genes, reducing the number of effective control tools. Currently, this resistance has already been detected in four of the eleven main modes of action of fungicides. Therefore, those remaining are under increased and serious pressure. “The emergence of resistance to the remaining modes of action is expected to evolve over the coming seasons,” the organizations indicate. Thus, late blight threatens European potato production, the supply chain and the positive trade balance of the European Union,” they warn. One of the objectives of this plan is to raise awareness ...