b'As we in the potato industry are wellthe disease is on the island.aware, potato wart doesnt just pro- All parties duceunmarketablepotatoes;themust allow the As solution,U.S.potatofarmersadetection of this disease in the U.S.consideritextremelypositivethat would be devastating to our growersscientifictheCanadianFoodInspection andtheruralcommunitiestheyAgency(CFIA)hascommittedto support.Atleast$300millionperprocess toconduct 35,000 soil samples on PEI yearinnegativeeconomicimpactto determine the scope of the dis-wouldimmediatelyoccurasinter- determineease, and thereby begin the process national and interstate trade was cutofresumingtradewiththemain-off, and we would need to undergowhere theland U.S.a lengthy and costly battle to regaindisease isthose international customers.Lookingforward,theU.S.potato present to beindustry anticipates the fulfillment Potato wart has been found in PEI inofCFIAscommitmenttoconduct eight of the last 10 years. The detec- assured thatthesesoiltestsandtosharethe tionsin33potatofieldsintheresults with their partners at USDA province since 2000, plus a dramaticthe diseaseto ensure that clean fields have been drop in the amount of disease test- clearedforexport.Thatprecursor ing via soil samples, makes govern- threat iswill allow resumption of trade with mentofficialsandindustrymitigated. PEIandtheUnitedStates,consis-observers question how widespreadtent with the best available science.MARCH 2022 POTATO GROWER 9'