Improved Productivity and Sustainability of England's Potato-Farming Sector

The UK's potato industry is valued at £778M (5.37Mt); the majority of potatoes are produced in England, with growers relying on high-quality, disease-free seed, which is primarily purchased from a specialised group of growers in Scotland. Whilst the Scottish climate is perfect for minimising many potato disease, it can encourage blackleg disease; the most important bacterial disease of potatoes (£50M p.a. UK losses). This project focusses on a sustainable, highly-specific technology based on natural-bacterial enemies (bacteriophage) to target blackleg, developed with Scottish seed growers and aims to engage with England's wider potato industry to demonstrate and enable farm-based blackleg solutions.