By Gary Rawlings, Editor
- A new product called "revolutionary" will soon
be available to the potato industry.
Aeroponics International, a company located outside Fort Collins, CO, at Berthoud. has filed a patent for an organic disease control method known as ODC. This product will soon provide the industry with a new and natural way to resist plant pathogens.
Aeroponics International , an agri-biotech company founded in 1992 is applying its patented biotechnology to the entire agricultural industry.
Dr. Ken Knutson, with 29 years at Colorado State University as an associate
professor/pathologist, and potato specialist, is vice president of product
development. He is one of the inventors. He said. "The ODC patent is extremely
valuable because it will allow us to offer a previously unavailable and
revolutionary product to in the potato industry. This is new and we are
' certainly excited about its tremendous potential." 
Knutson added that "published reports by university scientists have verified the essential concepts of the patent as a successful biocontrol mechanism."
Richard J. Stoner, president of the company, says the ODC products have a great potential to help reduce crop losses including rhizoctonia and late blight.
Stoner says Aeroponics International's patented ODC approach literally switches on the plant's natural defense system in the presence of a pathogen.
Although the natural material does not need EPA approval, the company is voluntarily submitting trial data for EPA review.
