Potato webinar: market conditions, crop protection, and disease management

The session opened with an overview of the potato industry’s current position from GB Potatoes Chair and grower Alex Godfrey. Drawing on lessons from 2025, he reminded the sector about its sensitivity to supply and demand, with oversupply affecting prices. Consumption continues to decline, posing a major long-term challenge, although the crop remains resilient, with social media campaigns delivering potato trends such as baked potatoes.

He also highlighted how growers are facing increasing pressures from rising costs, environmental regulations, and limited access to crop protection products, demonstrating the importance of protecting and using every tool in the armoury in the most effective and efficient way.

“GB Potatoes has run a confidence survey at the end of 2025 and into 2026. Thank you to everybody who completed that survey. The full results are being analysed, but I can give you an exclusive preview this morning on a couple of the responses,” explained Alex.

“We asked growers what were the biggest challenges they faced on farm, and it probably won't come as a surprise to you, but the top three were: crop protection product availability, which 89% of growers said was extremely or moderately challenging; water availability, which 82% cited extremely or moderately challenging; and, environmental regulations with 83% referencing it as extremely or moderately challenging, although a lot more of them thought moderately than extremely compared to water.

“While short-term confidence is low, there was cautious optimism over a five-year horizon, with 37% confident or very confident in the outlook for the sector in the next five years, and only 24% pessimistic or very pessimistic.”

A major focus of the webinar was late blight management with Plant Pathologist Dr David Cooke from the James Hutton Institute sharing an in-depth look at the strain pattern in 2025, the predictions for 2026 and offering some advice for growers.

“We've got this rapid epidemic phase during the season, with foliar lesions on leaves, producing a huge number of spores. They key thing to remember is that a lot of spores means disease threat.

“Many of those spores are at at a ratio of 1.5 billion spores per hectare, and whilst only 1% demonstrate disease severity, they become a source of infection, but also a source of mutation. The number of spores that kick around during an uncontrolled outbreak or an outbreak on a dump or volunteers does cause challenges and the blight.

“The Phytophthora infestans is a very difficult organism to cope with. It's very adaptable, and the number of spores increases their adaptation. We know from the work within the UK that the clonal population is dominant, and those clones of potato blight pathogens survive through the tubers. As the tubers grow and new potatoes emerge, there's a risk of the inoculum coming with those.”

Integrated pest management was discussed, as an essential practice to help reduce the spread of blight, with strategies recommended including controlling primary inoculum sources (such as volunteers and infected seed), using resistant varieties where possible, and applying fungicides responsibly. Adhering to FRAC (Fungicide Resistance Action Committee) guidelines — particularly mixing and alternating products — was also highlighted as a critical approach for slowing resistance development. Forecasting tools and local monitoring further support timely interventions.

Products like Privest® were highlighted as valuable tools due to their systemic activity and effectiveness across all blight genotypes. Trials show that flexible use within spray programmes — especially during rapid canopy growth — can provide strong protection. Alternating products is recommended for both efficacy and resistance management.

“There's a lot of science that goes into making this formulation so that it is stable, but also so that each of the actives gets to the part of the plant, and through the plant, as it needs to do the job. What we're seeing in Privest, with our Syn-Tech formulation, is a genuine synergy between the actives. One plus one equals more than two. And that's not just words. That has been proven. Non clashing actives allow you to build a strong programme, and it is also worth say Privest is the only product, currently on the market, that has activity against all genotypes of late blight and is truly systemic.

“Alternation is also 100% key. You get the clean breaks each time you alternate with Privest, which is a useful attribute when controlling blight, but it's also important for resistance management by helping to protect other actives. The product is very flexible so whether you start with Privest or have it as a second or third spray in rapid canopy, it works equally well.”

In conclusion, while the potato industry faces significant challenges in 2026, the webinar showed clear pathways to resilience. Through collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and careful crop protection strategies, growers can adapt and maintain productivity in an increasingly complex environment.

To find out more about Privest, GB Potatoes or The Flight Against Blight, visit their respective websites.