DeS-BL project lead honoured by British Potato Industry
Professor Ian Toth, project lead for DeS-BL, has received the British Potato Industry Award 2020. This prestigious lifetime achievement award is in recognition of his career spent researching plant health, particularly potato blackleg disease.
As well as leading the DeS-BL project, Ian is Director of Scotland’s Plant Health Centre at The James Hutton Institute in Dundee where he has been conducting plant health research for over 25 years. His focus on strategically important and applied research have led to him becoming a globally reknowned potato bacterial disease expert.
Presenting the award, AHDB Potatoes Chair Alison Levett said: “Mention the phrase potato disease and Ian Toth’s name quickly comes into the discussion. Ian was trained under Michel Pérombelon at the Scottish Crop Research Institute but quickly became the “go-to-person” in the potato industry for all things blackleg and soft rot. Through a series of rigorous scientific studies and an innate ability to collaborate, particularly with industry, Ian has been responsible for delivering solutions for controlling blackleg throughout the potato supply chain and extending this knowledge into other potato bacterial diseases.”
Coongratulations Ian from everyone at the Bacterial Plant Disease Programme!