£2m fund to fight eelworm threat

There was some good news at yesterday’s Potatoes in Practice with the revelation that £2.2 million of funding has been made available to investigate the growing threat the spread of Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN), commonly known as eelworms, represents to Scotland’s £112m-a-year seed potato industry.

With the production of seed potatoes and ornamental bulbs banned on soils infected with the two main species, Globodera rostochiensis and Globodera pallida, the spread of the pests around the main growing areas is on course to wipe out the seed industry within 30 years.

A working group was set up in 2020 to identify a strategy to deal with the threat, with the current exclusion of land due to PCN infection estimated to cost the sector £25m a year.

Funded by the Scottish government, the work will be co-ordinated by the country’s Plant Health Centre (PHC) and involve James Hutton Institute, Scotland' s Rural College (SRUC), Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland (BioSS), Soil Essentials, Scottish Agronomy and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA).

Environment minister, Mairi McAllan said the project was hugely important to a key sector of the rural economy, while project leader, Professor Ian Toth of the JHI, said the approach was an example of how Scottish industry, government and academia could work together.

Archie Gibson of Agrico UK Ltd, said data gathered since 2010 highlighted the scale of the threat.

“This project is essential for the future economic sustainability of the potato seed industry.”