Canada: Cuts to disinfection program blindsides P.E.I. Potato Board

Prince Edward Island potato growers say a cut of $500,000-a-year service is a threat to the sector’s future. The end of a subsidy that provides disinfectant services to Island potato growers is a threat to the sector’s future, an industry spokesman says. “At least in terms of our seed potatoes, is very reckless,” said Greg Donald, general manager of the Prince Edward Island Potato Board. “It puts our whole industry at risk and it’s dangerous.” Donald found out Monday that as of Dec. 31, the province will be cutting funding to a 30-year-old disinfection service aimed at controlling a virulent disease called potato ring rot. More