* Commercial farmers have suffered wettest summer in 100 years
* Downpours left fields waterlogged and much of the crop left
to rot
* It has also made potatoes particularly vulnerable to
fungal infections
* So-called 'late blight' is caused by fungal spores spread on
the wind
* The Potato Council says 'grow your own' gardeners make
it worse
Commercial farmers across the UK have suffered amid the
wettest summer in 100 years, with downpours that have left fields waterlogged.
Here a farmer shows some freshly dug new potatoes
Farmers say the situation has been made worse by the army of
‘grow-your-own’ gardeners.
The Potato Council says they are responsible for spreading
the blight because they can’t identify it quickly and do not know how to
control outbreaks.
 |
To blame? 'Grow your own' gardeners,
like this woman on an
allotment in Peckham,
south London, have been accused of
unwittingly helping to
spread a disease affecting potatoes
|
Farmers say the situation has been made worse by the army of
‘grow-your-own’ gardeners.
The Potato Council says they are responsible for spreading
the blight because they can’t identify it quickly and do not know how to
control outbreaks.
While farmers routinely douse crops in fungicides to kill
off the spores, gardeners tend to avoid using such chemicals.
As a result, even small garden or allotment plots of
infected potatoes can threaten farms across a wide area.
The Potato Council warned they were responsible for a
‘disproportionate amount of overall blight pressure’ in warm, wet seasons.
Council chairman Allan Stevenson said it would be better if
amateurs left the growing of potatoes to the professionals.
 |
The Duchess of Cambridge recently told a group
of gardeners
in Newcastle that she grew her
own potatoes, but had suffered a poor crop this
year
|
He told The Grocer magazine: ‘People should be encouraged to
grow their own vegetables to learn about the origins of their food.
‘But the blight risk is real, and it would be preferable if
people bought healthy, well-produced potatoes from their retailer, rather than
grow their own.’
The spores can survive through the winter months on
vegetation, in the soil and on any potato plants that are not properly cleared
at the end of the harvest.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s have warned of shortages of UK-grown
vegetables and higher prices in the run-up to Christmas.
Stores have doubled the price of popular varieties such as
Maris Piper over the past year, while further increases on all types of root
vegetables are expected.
 |
Farmers will routinely douse their crops in
fungicides in
order to kill off the spores
but that has not helped this year
|
Some retailers have even put up warning notices saying that
fresh produce was not up to the normal ‘beauty pageant’ standard because of the
rain.
The Potato Council has contacted amateur gardening
organisations to produce a special blight fact-sheet and other guidance and
advice on growing potatoes.
It has also recruited hundreds of ‘blight monitors’ to check
on the development of late blight both on allotments and in commercial crops.
(Source)
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Movement (N-AM)
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