This has been a pretty shocking growing season for farmers and amateur growers alike. One of the problems with a wet summer is the spread of a variety of moulds, mildews and fungal infections of all kinds and potato blight is one of the worst. Now I hear that the Potato Council is blaming allotment growers for spreading blight and suggesting that we should leave spuds to the professionals and concentrate on crops less prone to disease. It's true that a lot of new allotmenteers, motivated by a misplaced belief in "organic" ideology, are wary of treating blight with fungicide but surely the way to deal with this problem is through a campaign of education. Anyway, if the Potato Council are so concerned about amateur growers how come that the first thing that I found on their website was this.
EDIT: Thanks to the ever vigilant Gitane for spotting this interesting bit of spud science.
http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/crops/23.genetically_modified_potato.html
3 comments:
http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/crops/23.genetically_modified_potato.html
Seems to me that this is a precursory move because GM potatoes are extremely vunerable to disease. With massive food shortages predicted that will effect meat production as well (%50 of spuds are grown for animal feed). They're preparing the propoganda before they convince us there is a need for GM potatoes.
My thoughts exactly, with the food price increases- In the US, they're talking about, or have (not sure) Federal Food and Drug Administration laws aimed at stopping people 'growing their own'- since it would be an unlicenced, unregulated source of food-The Spud Police in your garden FFS!
i heard one way of stopping spud blight is to chop off the rottening yellowing leaves and burn them.
if this is right i dont know cos i know nothing about growing of spuds tho i did grow some big fat juicey tomatoes on my balcony last summer.
dont know if i will this summer as you know come April housing benefit will be cut for some who have a spare room or rooms.so god knows where i will be living,in a potatoe field maybe?
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