British Potato Insight Into Managing Blight Resistance

19 December 2025, UK: Visitors to the British Potato Event 2025 in Harrogate were given the latest updates on potato blight resistance from leading industry experts, with Syngenta Technical Manager, Andy Cunningham providing the insights on future strategies.

The seminar ‘Managing the threat from a changing late blight landscape’ also featured the prestigious panel of Professor Ian Toth  of The James Hutton Institute;  Senior Plant Pathologist at JHI, Dr. David Cooke and Dan Milbourne, plant geneticist at Teagasc in Ireland.   

Speakers highlighted that with the EU46 blight strain identified in GB for the first time in 2024, and EU43 remaining an ever-present threat, having a system in place for monitoring outbreaks and mapping the movement of different genotypes has never been more important. 

Learning from the experiences of Europe and using our current chemistry to best effect in the face of the new challenges will be essential to mitigate the undoubted threats, according to Andy Cunningham. 

The approach of UK growers and agronomists to mix and alternate blight products and modes of action in constantly adapting programmes had, hitherto, been successful in minimising issues. That compared to the situation in mainland Europe – where consecutive block treatments of the same or similar products were commonplace, resulting in disastrous incidences of resistance developing. 

The lessons to continue with the robust strategy and using all available options through the season is clear. 

The Fight Against Blight(FAB) campaign has become an essential tool for keeping resistance at bay, believes David Cooke of JHI, identifying historical findings, as well as an update on the known situation from 2025. 

Improving decision support systems is critical going forward, including Improved IPM from a better understanding of the host and pathogen that will play a large part in achieving this.  Dan Milbourne, of Teagasc, highlights the IPMorama project which is working to enable this. 

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