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Potato wart detection sparks calls to ban Canadian fresh imports

Potato growers are calling on the USDA to suspend Canadian imports of fresh potatoes after a new report of a devastating disease on Prince Edward Island.

Kam Quales tells Brownfield potato wart disease is not currently in the U.S., but a recent confirmed detection outside of regulated areas is a warning sign.

“You’re talking about literally billions of dollars in damage if this disease got established in the U.S. We do not want that to happen,” he says.

He says there’s currently an import band on Canadian seed potatoes, but that’s not enough.

“The disease wants to move, it wants to get out, and if you don’t take it seriously as a technical matter, what’s happening now, it’s just preordained,” he says. “This is going to keep occurring. That footprint is going to expand.”

Quarles says U.S. exports would halt immediately if the disease were to come into the U.S., and once present, potato wart is nearly impossible to eradicate.