Niki Bezzant is a writer, speaker, editor and commentator. She is passionate about food, healthy eating and food culture, marketing and policy. As founding editor (former editor-at-large) of Healthy Food Guide magazine, a columnist for the Herald on Sunday and a frequent contributor to broadcast media, she has extensive knowledge of modern media and consumer attitudes…
With a string of awards to his name, including the countries highest accolades for comedy, Te Radar is one of New Zealand’s most recognised comedians and personalities. Under his trademark strawberry-blond mop lurks an astute mind that has created award-winning comedy shows, and TV documentaries for the past two decades. Te Radar has a keen…
New and aggressive dickeya pathogen has US potato industry searching for answers… Article by Melanie App – Spudman magazine, America In 2015, Dickeya dianthicola, a new blackleg pathogen, emerged in the eastern United States, causing significant yield loss. Dickeya is an aggressive pathogen that can travel long distances. Since first emerging, the pathogen has spread…
Martin Snedden, renowned cricket player and ex CEO of Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd the company responsible for staging the extremely successful Rugby World Cup 2011, will open the Potatoes NZ conference on 26 July. Between 2001 and 2007, as CEO Martin headed NZC during a tumultuous period punctuated by issues relating to terrorism, politics and…
Update by Jen Linton, Potato Research Manager, FAR The number of trials and sites around the country has made the 2016/17 potato research season an exciting one for the research team. We are very pleased with how the season has gone and the teamwork across the various groups and organisations involved on the ground has…
Dr Charles Merfield from the BHU Future Farming Centre spoke at a Growers Talk in Lincoln on 14 March 2017. The topic was Mesh crop covers for non-chemical potato pest and disease control. Download the research notes handout.
Both Pectobacterium atrosepticum and P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum have previously been isolated from potato tubers with soft rot symptoms in New Zealand. Only Pectobacterium atrosepticum has been shown to cause blackleg. Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. wasabiae has been recorded on potato in New Zealand. Both occur sporadically in New Zealand, causing economic damage under optimal temperature…
In 2014 and 2015, growers in many parts of the eastern United States region started to notice blackleg symptoms in fields. However, careful inspection of plants suggested that this was not typical blackleg, which is a seed issue resulting from contamination with Pectobacterium followed by excessively wet growing conditions. In this case, growers noticed significant…
Europe 2005 In 2005/2006, a growing number of cases of potato blackleg/top wilt in Northern Europe and Israel were found to be caused by a previously unrecognised Dickeya sp. frequently referred to as Dickeya sp. biovar 3, now known as D. solani. Dickeya solani is a bacterial pathogen of potato thought to have crossed from…
Download Residue Compliance Information book This compliance information is intended to benefit both domestic and export growers by ensuring easily accessible (and current) MRL (maximum residue limit) and WHP (with-holding period) information is available. The compliance information will help reduce the possibility of residue non-compliance due to lack of information. These guidelines also indicate where…
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