Jul 22, 2024Letter urges additional mitigation measures against PEI potato wart introduction
Eighteen senators signed a bipartisan letter sent July 16 to USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack urging additional mitigation measures to prevent the introduction of Prince Edward Island (PEI) potato wart into the United States.
The letter reads, in part: “If potato wart should enter the United States, our farmers and the communities they support will be economically devastated. Given that twenty percent of our potato crop — valued at over $2 billion — is exported, we cannot allow introduction of a disease that would shut off access to international markets, and also curtail domestic production and sales.”
Potato wart can spread via infected potatoes and soil, reduce crop yields and render potatoes unmarketable. It can persist in the soil for decades.
The senators urged USDA to “take swift action to mitigate the potato wart risk associated with imports from PEI” by:
- Restricting bulk shipments into the United States to smaller-size packages.
- Limiting large retail shipments and ensuring consumers know they are for consumption rather than cultivation.
- Controlling the waste generated by processing facilities.
In December 2023, the CFIA announced plans to review and replace its current long-term risk management plan for potato wart as part of negotiations with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which prohibits the import of field-grown seed potatoes from PEI into the U.S.
The U.S. border reopened to fresh potatoes in April 2022 after detection of PEI potato wart in 2021 completely closed the passage in November of that year. The closing led to the destruction of hundreds of millions of pounds of seed and table potatoes in the Canadian province and sparked fear of the pathogen crossing into the U.S.
“For nearly three years, the U.S. potato industry has been demanding action from the Administration to reduce this huge threat to our growers and all the economic activity they generate,” Dean Gibson, National Potato Council’s vice president of legislative affairs and a potato grower from Paul, Idaho, said in a statement. “We appreciate these key members of the U.S. Senate supporting our concerns and highlighting some positive steps that USDA can take immediately to reduce this threat.”
NPC CEO Kam Quarles, as well as potato pathology experts, discussed the PEI problem with Spudman in February.
Led by U.S. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the letter was signed by 16 other senators. The full text is available here (.pdf).
