"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.”
Bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate this week issued a letter led by U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) urging USDA to implement additional mitigation measures to prevent the introduction of PEI potato wart into the United States.
In the letter, the Senators caution: “If potato wart should enter the United States, our farmers and the communities they support will be economically devastated. 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.”
In order to protect U.S. potato growers and the thousands of jobs supported by the industry, the Senators urged USDA to “take swift action to mitigate the potato wart risk associated with imports from PEI” by:
- Restricting bulk shipments into the United States to smaller-size packages;
- Limiting large retail shipments and ensuring consumers know they are for consumption rather than cultivation; and,
- Controlling the waste generated by processing facilities.
“For nearly three years, the U.S. potato industry has been demanding action from the Administration to reduce this huge threat to our growers and all the economic activity they generate,” said Dean Gibson, National Potato Council’s Vice President and Legislative Affairs and potato grower from Paul, Idaho. “We appreciate these key members of the U.S. Senate supporting our concerns and highlighting some positive steps that USDA can take immediately to reduce this threat.”
In addition to Senators Crapo and Wyden, the letter was signed by Senators Boozman (R-Arkansas), Collins (R-Maine), Cramer (R-North Dakota), Daines (R-Montana), Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Ricketts (R-Nebraska), Risch (R-Idaho), Bennett (D-Colorado), Cantwell (D-Washington), Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), King (I-Maine), Merkley (D-Oregon), Murray (D-Washington), Stabenow (D-Michigan) and Tester (D-Montana).
Following expanded detections of potato wart in 2021 in Prince Edward Island, the Canadian Food Inspection Service and USDA held talks and agreed to close the U.S. market to PEI potatoes due to the disease threat. Shortly thereafter, a meeting was held in the Oval Office between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden where that closure was discussed and the market was reopened shortly thereafter, except for seed potatoes
Read the full letter here.
