Progress reported toward restoring Idaho chipping potato access to Japan

A source with the Idaho Potato Commission said progress was made toward restoring access to ship fresh Idaho chipping potatoes to Japan during a recent meeting between Japanese governmental leaders and USDA officials. Leaders with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries met in Idaho Falls June 1-2 for their annual bilateral plant health negotiations. In conjunction with the meeting, leaders from both countries also visited an Eastern Idaho seed potato farm, a local packing shed and USDA’s pale cyst nematode program facility in Idaho Falls. Japan imports no fresh U.S. table potatoes and has restricted access to Idaho chipping potatoes due to the 2006 discovery of pale cyst nematode in Eastern Idaho. More