“With 48.3 million tons harvested in 2023, the EU remains one of the world’s significant potato producers — yet this scale also means that disease outbreaks can threaten regional food systems.”
“Between 2000 and 2023, EU potato production declined by 27.9 million tons, a drop of 36.7 %. In 2023 the harvest stood at 48.3 Mt, down from ~76.2 Mt in 2000.”
A bacteria infecting potatoes, sugar beets, and other vegetables. Spread by insects like cicadas, it infiltrates plants without obvious symptoms. By the time the damage shows, up to 30% of the harvest can already be gone.
Candidatus Arsenophonus phytopathogenicus is becoming an EU-wide threat in agriculture.
Current detection methods like PCR are accurate but too slow, expensive, and tied to laboratories.
Farmers need something better
A rapid, easy and cost-effective solution that works onsite, where clearance is needed most.