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The news outlet CBC Canada has reported that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) revealed a new detection of potato wart on Price Edward Island. According to CFIA, the sample was taken from a farm and field associated with a prior detection in February 2022.
“The U.S. potato industry is hopeful that the soil testing that CFIA committed to one-and-a-half years ago will be completed soon. As this detection reinforces, we remain concerned that potatoes apparently continue to be grown in wart-infested fields,” said NPCCEO Kam Quarles. “The prospect of potato wart being spread to other fields and farms through normal farming, transportation, and processing activities looms larger every year without strict protocols in place. In December 2022, CFIA announced their commitment to ‘modernizing’ their Long Term Management Plan intended to mitigate the spread of PEI potato wart, yet we have still seen nothing of those details.”
According to an October 2022 USDA APHIS report, it’s a question of “when” not “if” PEI potato wart will spread to the United States. “Without mitigation measures, potato wart is almost certain to be introduced to U.S. potato production areas via seed potatoes imported from PEI,” said USDA in its report.
“In the aftermath of the USDA APHIS report, we respect CFIA’s commitment to ‘modernizing’ their Long Term Management Plan intended to mitigate the spread of PEI potato wart. These new protocols must be enacted immediately, as PEI product continues to be shipped to the U.S. with the risks APHIS identified.”
The impact of disease spread into the U.S. would be catastrophic for American potato growers and the entire North American potato value chain that relies on trade with foreign markets for their products.
As of CFIA’s last quarterly update in June 2023, the agency has found potato wart in 37 fields in PEI since 2000.
