Prospect of blight-resistant crop receives guarded welcome

Teagasc’s GM potato trials can help counter blight and combat projected world hunger, says Tipperary farmer Tommy Cooke.

Primarily a dairy farmer, Mr Cooke’s own small potato crop was destroyed by blight caused by this year’s flooding. He welcomes the EPA’s decision to approve Teagasc’s state-controlled trial into GM strain of blight-resistant potatoes.

“My own crop was destroyed this year,” said Mr Cooke, an ICMSA council member and a Teagasc board member. “I have an organic kitchen garden that I try to maintain in a sustainable way. It was impossible to control the blight in this year’s terrible weather.

“My neighbour’s potato crop was also decimated by the rain while carrots are sitting there quite safely. Commercial potato farmers are spraying on a weekly basis to combat the weather. It is impossible to protect the crop from blight this year. If the country was depending only on that crop, we would be starving.”

Mr Cooke said people should view the Teagasc trials in the global context of predicted soaring world population levels that will increase the likelihood of famines in emerging nations. On the domestic front, he expressed confidence in Teagasc’s ability to conduct these trials.

“Safety is the number one issue for me,” said Mr Cooke. “I am happy that this is a public body, whose work is open to scrutiny. This is not some trial hidden from public eye. I am confident Teagasc has the expertise in place to analyse these trials to the best international standards.”

This view was echoed by West Cork farmer Harold Kingston. He said that both the EPA and Teagasc were independent professional bodies with the expertise required to manage and control these trials.

“People will have extreme views on both sides, but this is a new technology and it needs to be properly tested in a properly controlled environment,” said Mr Kingston, who also chairs the IFA’s environment and rural affairs committee.

IFA potato committee chairman Thomas Carpenter said: “The trial is only a trial. The important thing will be the result of the trial. The situation for farmers this year is that they are having to use every means at their disposal to combat the weather.

“The wet weather we’ve had is disposed to the spread of blight. Farmers are using the best practices available at the moment to control blight and protect their crops.

“The cost of applying chemicals has risen substantially, so farmers are taking a little and often approach to applying them, which is dictated by the weather.”

Mr Carpenter said these added costs, coupled with the lower crop yield, will see consumers having to pay more for their potatoes this year.

He said he would rather wait for the outcome of Teagasc’s trials to assess whether or not they could improve the present approach to growing potatoes in Ireland.