Potatoes (Hansard, 8 December 2003)

§ Andrew George
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice she gives to potato growers in respect of(a) liability and (b) compensation for (i) substandard and (ii) diseased seed potato stock. [140838]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
This information is as follows:
232W
(a) Seed potato growers entering crops for classification under the Seed Potato Classification Scheme are advised that it is a condition of the acceptance of applications by Defra and the National Assembly for Wales that no liability shall attach to either Department or any of their officers in connection with any inspection carried out, or in respect of certificates and reports which are based on the examination of crops and tubers, or in any other way in connection with the operation of the arrangements for certification and classification. The Seed Potato Classification Scheme facilitates the classification of crops in order to meet the requirements of the Seed Potatoes Regulations 1991 (as amended).
Defra regularly produces publicity material to assist seed potato growers in the identification of pests and diseases. This information is sent to growers and is also available on the Defra web-site.
(b) The Government pay no compensation for sub-standard or diseased seed potato stock.

§ Andrew George
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress her Department has made in containing the recent outbreak of ring rot. [140839]

§ Mr. Wiggin
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to stop the disease of potato ring rot from spreading in Wales. [141167]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
As soon as the disease was detected on a routine sample of seed potatoes from the farm in mid Wales, a statutory notice was served under the Plant Health Order 1993 to prevent movement. Three deliveries which had already been made from the farm to customers in England were traced and placed under notice.
All 22 stocks of seed potatoes on the farm have now been tested. Although infection has been found on some samples of one other variety, DNA testing suggests that this is likely to be due to an admixture with the original infected variety at harvest. The other 20 stocks have been found free from the disease. However, none of the seed potatoes from the outbreak farm can be planted.
Five farms in England grew crops this year with a varietal link to the infected stocks. As a precautionary measure these stocks were placed under notice and sampled. No ring rot was found in tests on these samples and the stocks are being released.
There is no reason to believe that infection was present on the affected farm before this year, but as a precautionary measure last year's deliveries of seed are being traced, so crops grown from them can be sampled and tested.
A new publicity leaflet on ring rot has been prepared and will be sent to all potato growers shortly.