The world's most damaging potato disease has been discovered in Britain for the first time.
Ring rot has been described as the potato equivalent of foot-and-mouth, and government experts are meeting to discuss how to contain it.
Potato growers have pledged to contain and eradicate the outbreak, which was discovered at a farm in mid Wales.
The bacterial disease is believed to have been brought into the UK ñ previously a rot-free zone ñ on infected Dutch seed.
If the disease were to establish itself, then yield losses could be considerable. In addition, the seed export market is a very important one for potato seed growers in England and Wales and this would be at risk if Britain lost its ring rot-free status.
The infected potatoes were detected during the annual survey for ring rot carried out by Defra. The source of the infection is under investigation.
Graham Nichols, Vice Chairman of NFU Horticulture, representing potatoes, said: "While this outbreak of potato ring rot is of great concern, it must be remembered that this is a one-off outbreak that has been caused by the use of imported seed.
"We will be doing our utmost to ensure it is contained and eradicated.
"We will be working closely with the authorities and will be encouraging growers to stick to all the guidelines to minimise the risk of spreading the infection."
The NFU and NFU Cymru have been in close talks with Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government on the issue in recent days.
Mr Nichols stressed that this disease poses no risk to human health.
Annual losses to US potato farmers caused by ring rot have been as high as 50 per cent.
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