Netherlands: Chemistry falls short against phytophthora

LTO director Hendrik Jan ten Cate believes that new breeding techniques such as Crispr-Cas should be allowed in the European Union in the short term. 'The situation is quite worrying. We are receiving reports from all over the country that phytophthora can no longer be controlled and that potato crops must be sprayed to death early.' The high disease pressure on many practice plots has prompted the LTO Arable Farming and Open Field Vegetables department to bring this problem to the attention of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. The aim is to inform the government about the state of affairs and to argue for structural solutions. Tuber infestations Ten Cate points out that this year's many leaf and now also tuber infestations show that the package of resources is no longer sufficient to combat phytophthora. After the disappearance of broad-spectrum products based on mancozeb, growers are at the mercy of ...