Despite the fact that Defra still awaits the results of the tests that would confirm the discovery of Ring Rot at the 60-hectare Mid-Wales farm of John Morgan, the media is awash with predictions of the distastrous potential of the 'killer potato bug'.
Morgan has apparently been told to expect to lose the entirety of his potato crop, which has an estimated value of £500,000 and conjecture has it that 'hundreds of farms' are at risk from the spread of Ring Rot.
Dutch firm Agrico has been pinpointed as the likely source of the alleged outbreak and has supplied 15,000 tonnes of seed potatoes to growers in England and Wales in the last year. The Defra line is that a new type - Provento - is the suspect seed.
Two consignments of the suspect variety are already in the possession of Spanish authorities, having been seized on inspection in the Canary Islands.
However, explicit proof that the disease is present in Morgan's crop has not been provided and the "aubergine test" (*) being carried out by plant health inspectors is unlikely to bare results for four to six weeks.
The government is legally unable to ask Morgan to destroy his crop without proof and cannot destroy the potatoes itself without his permission.
Agrico's commercial director Jan Panhogen said: "These seed potatoes were checked and certified for export in April this year and they did not have the disease. I think they must have been infected another way."
He added he was surprised that the disease had been made public knowledge without concrete vidence of its existence: "So far, the firm has not been contacted to say there is a problem with our supplies. Officially Defra does not know the results," he said.
Defra said that it was its duty to inform the EU and the industry about the possibility of outbreak after initial tests were carried out.
According to The Times, Morgan's Bwlch farm had also supplied product to several farms in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire, which now under restriction until their entire stock has been checked for the disease.
The same newspaper also named MBM and Agricola as customers of Morgan. As much as 2,000t of potatoes are thought to be held for testing at the Welsh farm and in the worst case scenario, Morgan would be prohibited from growing potatoes at the farm for five years.
* An aubergine test involves bacterium from the diseased potato being injected into a plant of the same family, usually an aubergine. If it shows the same symptoms, the bug is present.
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