A major breakthrough concerning the production of organic potatoes has been made by scientists at the Teagasc Oak Park research centre in Carlow.
The scientists have identified the new varieties, Setanta and Orla, as having high levels of blight resistance and high yields from an organic system which does not involve the use of farmyard manure.
Orla, an early potato which was released commercially in 1998, yielded 21.2 tonnes of crop per hectare while the main crop variety, Setanta, which was only released commercially in 2005, yielded 32.6 tonnes per hectare.
"The Setanta, which is closely related to the Rooster variety which was also developed by Teagasc, has been particularly successful and already the organic growers are seeing it as having major potential," said Denis Griffin, the organisation's leading expert in breeding new varieties of potato.
"We found that it has a high resistance to blight as did the earlier variety, Orla, which we found to have also cropped well and was also highly blight resistant.
"Some of the organic growers who got seed last year are reporting good results and it would appear these two varieties have a good future in the organic sector," Mr Griffin added.
Ger Shortle, who works on organic systems in Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford, said the cereal trial results had also been very encouraging.