Prince Edward Island’s (PEI) provincial minister of agriculture has tabled legislation that would give the provincial government a lead role in trying to prevent the spread of potato wart in the province.
As Kerry Campbell reports for CBC News, if passed, an Act to Amend the Plant Health Act would give the minister Darlene Compton the authority to prohibit or restrict the planting of certain crops within an area of a field where a regulated disease has been detected, for up to 20 years.
On Wednesday Compton said her department plans to prohibit the planting of potatoes, tomatoes or any kind of root crop in specific areas in fields where potato wart has been detected — known as index fields.
Currently, under the potato wart management plan administered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, wart-resistant varieties of potatoes can be planted in those fields five years after the detection of potato wart.
Source: CBC News. Read the full story here
Photo: Tuber displaying potato wart. Courtesy and credit Canadian Food and Inspection Agency (CFIA)
