Current Projects
Northwest Potato Research Consortium Cooperative Effort of the Potato Commissions of ID, OR, & WA
Current Funded Projects: Growing Season 2026 / Fiscal Year 2026-2027
Click Category to view Projects
Project | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|
Testing effects of phytohormones and their analogs on host induced resistance to powdery scab (Year 2) | Kiwamu Tanaka and Jeff Miller |
Verticillium wilt-associated microbiomes imparted by soil health and management practices (New) | Marie Schaedel and Ken Frost Unfunded collaborator: Markus Kleber |
From Biomass to Biofumigation: Optimizing Winter Camelina for Nematode and Soilborne Disease Suppression in Potatoes (New) | Cynthia Gleason Unfunded collaborator/project manager Tim Paulitz, Wilson Craine (post doc with Paulitz and project manager) |
Evaluating Soil Amendment–Fumigation Interactions for Management of Verticillium Wilt in Potato (Year 2) | Deirdre Griffin LaHue, Chakradhar Mattupalli, and Ken Frost Unfunded collaborators: Gabe LaHue and Lindsey du Toit |
Minimum continuation of potato cropping systems experiments in Oregon and Idaho (Year 3) | Ken Frost and Jeff Miller |
Managing black dot development on potato tubers (Year 2) | Jeff Miller, Chakradhar Mattupalli, and Nora Olsen |
Support for the investigation of emerging and persistent potato diseases in the Northwest (Ongoing) | Kylie Swisher Grimm |
Project | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|
Enhancing the ability to predict Columbia root-knot nematode phenology in potato fields (New) | David Crowder and Inga Zasada |
Strengthening Diagnostic Tools for Root-Knot Nematodes in Northwest Potato Fields (New) | Inga Zasada and Cynthia Gleason |
CDPK20 and Calcium Signaling: Unlocking Resistance Mechanisms in Potatoes (Year 2) | Cynthia Gleason Unfunded collaborator: Marcella Teixeira (post doc, Gleason lab) |
An engineered microbe for improved biofumigation control of plant-parasitic nematodes (New) | Eric Holmes and Louise-Marie Dandurdand Unfunded collaborator: Paige Hickman (post doc with Dandurand’s lab) |
Stubby root nematode: assessment of tobacco rattle virus transmission and nematode fecundity (Year 2) | Kylie Swisher Grimm |
Development of Nematicides for Pacific Northwest Potatoes (Ongoing) | Alan Schreiber |
Project | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|
Evaluating Biopesticides to Minimize Potato Virus Y and Other Diseases in Harvested Tubers (Year 2, Final Year): | Kasia Duellman |
Monitoring the PVY strains in Othello and Hermiston trials (Ongoing, funded every other year) | Alex Karasev and Ken Frost Unfunded collaborator: Mark Pavek |
Foliar and tuber symptoms induced by PVY strains in PNW potato cultivars under screenhouse conditions (Year 3) | Alex Karasev and Ken Frost Unfunded collaborator: Nora Olsen |
Dual-targeting RNA interference to suppress Potato mop top virus and its vector Spongospora subterranea (New) | Hana Zand Karimi and Kiwamu Tanaka Unfunded collaborator: Jeff Miller |
Developing RNA Vaccines as Bio-pesticides for Managing Potato virus Y (Year 3) | Hanu Pappu |
Seed lot testing for Potato mop-top virus and Tobacco rattle virus (Year 2) | Kylie Swisher Grimm |
Project | Sponsors |
|---|---|
Determining species composition of colonizing aphids and their baseline susceptibility to key insecticides in Pacific Northwest potato systems (New) | Marcelo Dimase, Erik Wenninger, and Tim Waters |
Development of Insecticides for Pacific Northwest Potatoes (Ongoing) | Alan Schreiber |
Evaluation of jasmonates for management of insect-vectored pathogens and promotion of beneficial arthropods in potato (New) | Erik Wenninger and Alexander Karasev Unfunded collaborator: Rajtilak Majumdar |
Soil applications of entomopathogenic fungi to control underground populations of Colorado potato beetles on potato (Year 3) | Josephine Antwi Unfunded collaborators: Tim Waters and Alan Schreiber |
Evaluating alternatives to neonicotinoids and the impact on virus transmission in seed potatoes (Year 2) | Tim Waters and Alex Karasev |
Project | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|
Gold standard measurements for updating contemporary potato water use models to improve water governance and irrigation decisions in the PNW (New) | Meetpal Kukal |
Evaluating water use and efficiency for potato cultivars across commercial fields with soil-based and satellite-based sensing systems (New) | Emily Bedwell, Meetpal Kukal, and Udayakumar Sekaran |
Method Development to Induce and Mitigate Internal Brown Spot in Potatoes (New) | Jacob Blauer and Soumik Banerjee |
Maleic Hydrazide (MH30) as a potato sprout control alternative to CIPC (Year 2) | Mark Pavek |
Determining peridermal oxygen availability during the wound healing process of russet-type potatoes (New) | Gustavo Teixeira Unfunded collaborator: Hailey Hampton |
Can 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) be used to control fry color defects in unforeseen storage events? (Year 2) | Gustavo Teixeira and Nora Olsen Unfunded collaborator: Samuel Paytosh |
Project | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|
Functional Validation of Candidate Genes for Columbia Root Knot Nematode Resistance (Year 2) | Beth Rowan and Sagar Sathuvalli |
Project | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|
University of Idaho and ARS base funding for variety development | Joe Kuhl, Nora Olsen, and Gustavo Teixeira Unfunded cooperator: Jonathan Whitworth USDA ARS |
Washington State University base funding for variety development | Jacob Blauer and Mark Pavek |
Oregon State University base funding for variety development | Sagar Sathuvalli Unfunded cooperators: Brian Charlton and Stuart Reitz |
USDA-ARS Prosser base funding for variety development | Jacob Blauer Unfunded cooperator (money used to support USDA ARS Feldman program): Max Feldman |
