07/16/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/16/2024 13:29
WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (both R-Idaho) led Senate colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack expressing concern about the potential for potato wart to spread from potato imports originating on Canada's Prince Edward Island (PEI) to U.S. farms and production facilities and urging the implementation of additional mitigation measures to prevent introduction into the United States.
Potato wart is a highly destructive disease that can spread via infected potatoes and soil, reduce crop yields, and make potatoes unmarketable domestically or internationally. There is currently no treatment available to eliminate it from contaminated farmland where it can persist in the soil for decades.
"If potato wart should enter the United States, our farmers and the communities they support will be economically devastated," the senators wrote. "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."
They expressed concern that, despite current USDA regulations identifying soil testing as the most effective tool to detect potato wart, the USDA does not require testing of PEI fields prior to potatoes being cleared for export to the U.S.
In order toprotect this crucial American crop and those who depend on it for salary or sustenance, the senators urged the USDA to take swift action to mitigate the potato wart risk associated with imports from PEI by taking three actions:
In addition to Risch and Crapo, the letter was signed by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Angus King (I-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
The full letter is here.