Despite the discovery of potato wart in another Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) field, farmers and industry members say the situation hasn’t changed; the ongoing ban on seed potato exports is causing undue harm to farmers’ livelihoods and doing unnecessary damage to the industry, as Jack Morse reports for CTV News.
Potato wart is harmless to humans, but deforms potatoes and reduces yields. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) made the recent discovery in a field adjacent to a pair of fields where the disease was detected in Oct. 2021 and Feb. 2022.
Donald Killorn, executive director of the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture says the majority of potato fields on P.E.I. are “clear of potato wart.” A statement from the CFIA says this wasn’t unexpected, and it’s common to discover potato wart in associated fields during an investigation.
Source: CTV News. Read the full story and watch a video here
Photo: Credit and courtesy CTV news video screenshot
