As Agriculture Director at McCain Foods Australia/New Zealand, John Jackson has witnessed the huge impact of the tomato potato psyllid (TPP) and Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum in New Zealand’s potato industry over the last eleven years.

When the psyllid arrived in 2006 in Canterbury, where McCain has a potato processing plant, John and his colleagues were already actively seeking advice and information on how to control TPP in their crops. Through the strategic levy investment PT09004 Control of potato psyllid with an IPM strategy, John was involved in the use of beneficial insects and ‘soft’ chemistry to control TPP population numbers in potato crops.

For all the details on how this strategic levy investment by Hort Innovation has helped New Zealand’s potato growers control TPP, and how the lessons from the project can help Australian growers currently dealing with TPP, check out the latest edition of AUSVEG’s Grower Success Stories: Real results from the potato R&D levy.