U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) joined 17 of her Senate colleagues in requesting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implement additional mitigation measures to prevent the introduction of a Canadian-born potato pathogen into the United States.
“If potato wart should enter the United States, our farmers and the communities they support will be economically devastated,” wrote Sen. Collins and her colleagues in a July 16 letter sent to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Given that 20 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.”
Currently, potato wart is spreading from potato imports originating from Canada’s Prince Edward Island (PEI). The highly destructive disease, for which there is currently no available treatment, can spread via infected potatoes and soil, reduce crop yields, and make potatoes unmarketable domestically or internationally, according to their letter.
While the lawmakers are appreciative of the steps the USDA has taken already to prevent the introduction of potato wart into the U.S., they remain concerned that USDA’s April 2022 decision to resume the importation of field-grown potatoes from PEI into the U.S. may not adhere to USDA’s own scientific findings and may fail to properly mitigate the risk posed by this disease.
“Most notably, USDA does not require any testing of PEI fields prior to potatoes being cleared for export, despite the fact that USDA regulations identify soil testing as the most effective tool to detect potato wart,” wrote Sen. Collins and her colleagues.
They urged USDA to swiftly mitigate the potato wart risk associated with imports from PEI by taking three actions: restrict bulk shipments into the U.S. to smaller-size packages so that any waste that occurs during the repacking process is significantly retained in Canada; limit large retail shipments and ensure consumers know they are for consumption rather than cultivation; and control the waste generated by potato processing facilities.
In addition to Sen. Collins, signatories of the letter included U.S. Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).