The new strains of Phytopthora infestans, better known as potato late blight, are far more aggressive than the pathogen that triggered the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, having evolved through sexual mating. Unlike the old strains, the new pathogen can survive harsh winters in the soil, further endangering crops.
Potatoes are a sustaining food crop, the second bread for many parts of Russia.
But that would depend on whether alternate food supplies could be moved into the affected areas in a timely manner. But Russia's current harsh economic conditions make fungicides unaffordable for the nation's myriad small farm holdings. The story of the late blight pathogen is complex. The Irish potato famine, though calamitous, was caused only by the A-1 and subsided gradually during the latter 19th century with the discovery of Bordeaux mixture, the first fungicide effective against late blight. There was no A-2 mating type strain in Ireland at the time.