Sárpo potatoes in crisis?

[alan refail]

The following from Alan Romans is appearing on the net concerning the funding difficulties at the Sárvári Research Trust:

Dear Potato Lover,

Save our Sarpos!

The Sarvari Research Trust and therefore the Sarpo varieties are in real trouble.

At a time when there is a global push to make GM potato varieties acceptable, the Trust has run out of money and sources of funding. It struggles to get by day-to-day, often subsidized by David Shaw’s pension. Their varieties are the result of decades of conventional cross breeding successfully to gain resistance genes from potato near-relatives.

Like most of the UK, Kettlebridge has had devastating blight since July yet my Sarpo Mira plants are still growing strongly – all other garden varieties in the village are long dead. Recently a Dutch team of genetists working on Sarpo Mira found it to be the most blight resistant variety that has ever existed with a unique complex of resistance genes including at least one never found before.

Crowd funding could save SRT. I have known for some time that an appreciation of the heritage and the worth of potato varieties lies mainly in the hands of gardeners – perhaps the future of spuds lies in the same hands. Please click on the link and do what you can, then pass this message on to all you can think of who might help.

There are still a few more varieties in the pipeline including “Crow” – I think “Crowdpleaser” would be better!

https://www.buzzbnk.org/ProjectDetails. ... ojectId=84

Alan Romans

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
I have had the very same appeal from Dr David Shaw and I appeal to all forum contributors to please help in any way possible however small your contribution may be. This project is absolutely vital. The work that goes into the research is of paramount importance to not only the country but the whole world need Sarpo Spuds.
Please be as generous as you possibly can be.
I thank you in advance. I shall be taking part myself
Johnboy.

https://www.buzzbnk.org/ProjectDetails. ... ojectId=84

[alan refail]

Good news from Sárvári Research Trust

We are delighted to announce that our crowd has got us to our target with time to spare. We now have a great crowd of supporters that is still growing. You may have noticed we have a second milestone to get the project to £10000. Our first target of 5k gets us part way to progressing our new variety but the 10k total should get us all the way. Many, many thanks to our 55 backers for their support and generosity. We hope you will enjoy participating in the project.

http://sarponews.blogspot.co.uk/