Dutch company to unveil blight-resistant potato
Small Dutch company Solyunta, originally set up to work on tomato varieties, will unveil its new potato later this week, the Financieele Dagblad said.
Phytophthora infestans is a type of fungus that causes around €10bn in damage to potato stocks worldwide every year, despite the intensive use of pesticides. The cost to the almost 9,000 potato growers in the Netherlands are estimated at €150m in relation to a total turnover of €750m, the FD said, quoting figures from Wageningen University.
Wageningen professor Richard Visser told the FD he expects Solynta will need a further four or five years before farmers will be able to grow the new potatoes.
source: dutchnews.nl
