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Assessing the impact of a GM potato engineered for late blight resistance

Ewen Mullins

Research Impact Highlights

Industry impact: As part of the EU-funded Assessing and Monitoring the Impacts of Genetically-modified plants on Agroecosystems (AMIGA) project, Teagasc completed field evaluations of a potato that was genetically engineered for resistance to late blight disease. Under current conventional management, potato growers typically require greater than 12 fungicide sprays per season to ensure the economic viability of their potato crops. The engineered potato (developed by Wageningen University, Netherlands) displayed robust resistance to late blight disease through three successive seasons of field trials at Oak Park. Most significantly, an environmental assessment of the study indicated that there was no significant difference between the GM variety and its non-GM comparator variety. Using the internationally recognised and publicly available Environmental Yardstick for Pesticides to quantify the environmental impact of chemical crop protection on water life, soil life and groundwater, the cultivation of a conventional variety under current practice scored over 700 environmental impact points. In contrast, the cisgenic-resistant variety scored less than ten points.

Contribution of non-research stakeholders: Over 80 knowledge transfer events were completed with stakeholders, farmers, industry, policy makers and consumer groups over three years.

Other contributors and collaborators: The AMIGA project had 22 partners, with the majority of work at Oak Park completed in collaboration with Wageningen University.

Funding: EU Framework Programme 7.