On Feb. 9, potato growers from Prince Edward Island resumed trade of table-stock potatoes to the U.S territory of Puerto Rico. We at the National Potato Council welcomed the news, which allows the province’s fresh growers to safely market their 2021 crop outside of Canada, since Puerto Rico does not have commercial production and the risk for disease spread there is minimal.
As part of the announcement that trade would resume, USDA secretary Tom Vilsack said that the transshipment of potatoes to the U.S. mainland was strictly prohibited. Enforcing that commitment is now essential, as that concession to assist the P.E.I. growers was provided by the U.S. before the scientific process for resumption of trade with the mainland has been completed.
U.S. potato growers and consumers who rely on P.E.I. potatoes want normal trade to resume; however, we are not willing to risk the consequences introducing potato wart into U.S. agriculture. All parties must allow the scientific process to determine where the disease is present to be assured that the disease threat is mitigated.
Numerous media outlets have painted their stories as a U.S.-versus-Canada trade issue, but this does not accurately reflect the current situation. This is an issue of science, and it should remain so.
The Canadian federal government remains just as committed to preventing the spread of potato wart as U.S. growers are in keeping the disease off their farms. Canada, unfortunately, has dealt with the consequences of potato wart before in the province of Newfoundland. Years ago, the disease was allowed to get out of control there, and today it is so prevalent that commercial potato production is impossible.
After their latest disease finds (the second major ones in just 18 months) Canadian authorities took action to restrict the movement of seed potatoes from P.E.I., both internationally and domestically, to prevent the spread of wart to other potato-producing Canadian provinces, the U.S and other countries. They also halted shipments of fresh table-stock potatoes to the U.S. until all parties could be certain that disease-free potatoes were crossing the border.
As we in the potato industry are well aware, potato wart doesn’t just produce unmarketable potatoes; the detection of this disease in the U.S. would be devastating to our growers and the rural communities they support. At least $300 million per year in negative economic impact would immediately occur as international and interstate trade was cut off, and we would need to undergo a lengthy and costly battle to regain those international customers.
Potato wart has been found in P.E.I. in eight of the last 10 years. The detections in 33 potato fields in the province since 2000, plus a dramatic drop in the amount of disease testing via soil samples, makes government officials and industry observers question how widespread the disease is on the island.
As a solution, U.S. potato farmers consider it extremely positive that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has committed to conduct 35,000 soil samples on P.E.I. to determine the scope of the disease, and thereby begin the process of resuming trade with the mainland U.S.
Looking forward, the U.S. potato industry anticipates the fulfillment of CFIA’s commitment to conduct these soil tests and to share the results with their partners at USDA to ensure that clean fields have been cleared for export. That precursor will allow resumption of trade between Prince Edward Island and the United States, consistent with the best available science.