GB Potatoes commits three-year funding to blight scheme
© Blackthorn Arable The potato industry is set to benefit from longer term funding of a vital national blight monitoring scheme, which helps farmers react to the evolving threat posed by late blight.
GB Potatoes this week announced the Fight Against Blight (FAB) scheme has secured funding for the next three years.
Led by the James Hutton Institute, FAB alerts growers to new strains of the disease, which is especially important this season after the discovery of a new fungicide-resistant strain last year.
Up to 2022, FAB was funded by AHDB Potatoes, and since the abolition of the levy body, has relied on short-term annual funding.
See also: What new potato blight strain means for fungcide strategies in 2025
GB Potatoes explained that this three-year funding, delivered through a grant from AHDB utilising the residual potato levy funds, will strengthen the long-term sustainability of FAB.
It will also enable this essential monitoring scheme to expand and strengthen the sector’s collective resilience to one of its most persistent potato challenges.
This season
Development manager of GB Potatoes Graham Bannister says:
“With new aggressive strains entering GB, and an increasing threat from fungicide-resistant genotypes, continued monitoring is more critical than ever.”
FAB provides real-time identification of blight strains while further delivering vital insights for shaping integrated pest management strategies through independent fungicide sensitivity screening.
The work is led by Dr David Cooke and Dr Alison Lees at the James Hutton Institute.
It provides the entire potato supply chain with in-season intelligence on blight population shifts, resistance trends, and the efficacy of key fungicides.
“These insights help the industry respond quickly and effectively to emerging threats,” says Graham.
Fight Against Blight
Launched in 2006, FAB has become a cornerstone of the UK potato sector’s resilience strategy against late blight.
The scheme relies on an invaluable and collaborative network of FAB Scouts – agronomists, growers, and industry professionals.
They collect and submit up to 1,700 field samples annually from outbreaks the length and breadth of the country.
GB Potatoes stands alongside a committed group of sponsors including Certis Belchim, UPL, Bayer, BASF, Corteva, Syngenta, FMC, McCain, Albert Bartlett, Branston, Agrovista, Frontier, Agrii, SAC, Hutchinsons, ProCam and Scottish Agronomy.
For more information or to get involved as a scout or supporter, email: fab@hutton.ac.uk.
