It took a lot of time, toil and tears, but it’s finally happened: the first field has been released from the Idaho pale cyst nematode (PCN) quarantine program. USDA announced July 2 that it has deregulated a 120-acre field near Shelley from the state’s pale cyst nematode program, writes David Sparks in this Idaho Ag Today report.
The announcement came as welcome news to the handful of Idaho potato growers who have had their fields included in the PCN quarantine since 2006, when pale cyst nematode was first discovered in a field near Shelley.
“The fact that we had a field … taken out of the quarantine is a huge deal for our industry and shows that things are moving in the right direction,” said Idaho Potato Commission CEO Jamey Higham.
The released field is owned by Idaho Farm Bureau Federation President Bryan Searle, a Shelley area potato farmer. “This is historic, in my opinion,” he said about the first release of a field from the PCN program. “It’s quite a deal.”
When PCN was first detected in Idaho, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service set up a PCN quarantine around an 8.5-mile radius in southeast Idaho to prevent its spread.
The federal agency said the quarantine program was necessary to convince trading partners who closed their door to Idaho or U.S. potato exports following the discovery to reopen their borders to U.S. spuds.
Source: Idaho Ag Today. Read the full story and listen to an audio file here
Image: PCN on red potato. Credit NIBR-Bugwood
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