The British Potato Council (BPC's) website www.potato.org.uk/blight that showed suspected and confirmed potato blight infection, received 14,000 visits during a 170-day period, according to the council.
National and regional maps displayed laboratory results of plant samples
sent in by 355 voluntary BPC blight scouts. Updated each morning, the website provided a fast and accurate picture of blight pressure during the season.
Records show a peak of 557 visits to the website on a single day with the site regularly receiving 200 visits daily from April to September.
The programme, which has now closed for this season, will be added to and improved on for next year following positive industry feedback and support by all sectors of the supply chain, the council told freshinfo.
BPC agronomist Mark Prentice said the programme's success can be measured by the healthy debate it helped generate for tackling the disease. "It was instrumental in focusing early attention on major blight inoculum sources like potato dumps," said Prentice. "We want to continue this momentum forward to next year by asking the industry to think about their potato waste now as stores are loaded. Feedback is also helping fine-tune how the programme will work during 2004."
Laboratory analysis showed that of the 167 plant samples tested, 104 were confirmed positive.
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