A recent national survey by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirms what the potato industry had hoped to hear: no signs of potato wart were detected in soil samples across the country.
The 2024 National Potato Wart Survey, which analyzed more than 2,200 soil samples from seed potato fields across multiple provinces, found zero evidence of the persistent soil-borne disease known to threaten yield and tuber quality, according to a recent press release.
“The results of this year’s survey bring a sense of relief,” says The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food of Canada. “We will continue to work with growers and the potato industry to manage this terrible pest so we can keep delivering top-quality Canadian potatoes to folks here in Canada and around the world.”
This news comes as a significant boost for the industry, especially considering the importance of potatoes in Canada’s agricultural landscape.
The survey covered seed potato fields in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I), and Nova Scotia. The CFIA’s commitment to regular monitoring is crucial in verifying and enhancing control measures already in place, ensuring continued access to markets for Canada’s fifth-largest primary agricultural crop.
“Surveillance is an essential component of the CFIA’s work to monitor for invasive pests like potato wart,” says Paul MacKinnon, CFIA President. “The survey also helps maintain the confidence of domestic and international trading partners in Canada’s potato industry.”
This confidence is essential as it directly impacts market access and the financial viability of growers.
As part of its ongoing efforts to combat potato wart, the CFIA will soon implement a new National Potato Wart Response Plan. This plan encompasses improved risk mitigation strategies, including enhanced biosecurity measures and additional soil sampling and analysis. These new measures will complement existing protocols, such as the Potato Wart Order, which aims to safeguard the potato sector against potential threats.
Potato wart is especially concerning because it can spread via soil movement, transportation of infected potatoes, and farm equipment used in contaminated fields. Currently, the only known occurrences of potato wart in Canada were found in Newfoundland and Labrador and P.E.I., where regulatory control measures are established to prevent any further spread of the disease to other provinces.
The timing of this positive survey result is particularly encouraging. Canadian farmers produced a record-breaking 127 million hundredweight of potatoes in 2024 — an impressive 23 per cent increase from 2020 and an uptick of 1.2 per cent compared to 2023, according to Statistics Canada.
With robust monitoring in place and a commitment to safeguarding crop quality, the CFIA continues to support a thriving potato industry that remains resilient against potential threats. The absence of potato wart in soil samples reinforces the importance of these collaborative efforts, allowing for the continued success and growth of Canada’s potato sector in both domestic and international markets.
