WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — The U.S. potato industry is urging the USDA to reinstate a ban on potato imports from Prince Edward Island in Canada following a newly confirmed case of potato wart disease in the region.
National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles says preventing the disease from entering the United States remains critical for the future of the industry.
“We cannot, under any circumstances, allow potato wart to get into the United States. The impact on the entirety of the U.S. potato industry from that development would be absolutely catastrophic. The most difficult thing about this disease is it will lie dormant in the soil for forty years, and if it comes into contact, four decades later, with host material, which is potatoes, it will be off and running again.”
Quarles says the industry believes reinstating the import ban is the most effective way to protect U.S. potato growers and export markets.
“The states that are the heaviest fresh potato exporting states are going to lose their export markets overnight and likely be shut down for a period of time. The cheapest, most effective option right now is to keep it out of the U.S., and that’s what we’ve been screaming about for five years as it has gotten larger on Prince Edward Island.”
Quarles says action is needed quickly to help protect the more than 714,000 jobs connected to the U.S. potato industry.
National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles joined us on Friday’s Market Day Report amid renewed industry concerns surrounding the disease.
In his conversation with RFD News, Quarles further outlined the latest detection and the threat potato wart could pose to American agriculture if it were to spread into the United States.
He also touched on the long history of policies aimed at preventing the spread of potato wart disease, including previous detections in both Prince Edward Island and the U.S.
Quarles additionally discussed what actions the potato industry is currently calling for, along with his outlook for the Farm Bill following House passage last month, and what the timeline for the legislation could look like moving forward.
