b"management plan in place. It's beenSynchytrium endobioticum is discovered approved by the CFIA and the USDA. Andin a field, the CFIA quarantines the field. it's a plan that has worked, Visser says. Contract tracing is then done to determine Visser never did receive theall farm equipment used in the field and phytosanitary certificate for his Uruguaywhere else that equipment has been shipments. He later learned it was tiedused. The seed sources for the field areinto the potato wart discovery. also investigated. What has followed in the months sinceFrom there other contacts are reviewed the initial announcement has been asuch as adjacent fields. The CFIA will nightmare for P.E.I. potato growers, withdo soil samples in the discovery field, many questioning if it really is about thewith more being done in adjacent fields science or if there are other forces at work.and other contact fields. Fields where Synchytrium endobioticum are detected What is Potato Wart? in are monitored for 20 years or more after Potato wart is caused by the soil-borneinitial discovery.fungus Synchytrium endobioticum. It hasI often say they throw a big net to been present in some continents for moremake sure that if it did spread, those than a century and was first detectedfields are locked down and (those in P.E.I. in 2000. Since then it has beenpotatoes are) not allowed to go anywhere. detected in 33 fields there. Those potatoes are not allowed to It appears mainly on the stolons andleave P.E.I. and can only be used under Greg Donald, general manager of the Prince tubers of potatoes, a website post from thestrict standards, Greg Donald, generalEdward Island Potato BoardU.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)manager of the P.E.I. Potato Board, says. Its hard to see symptoms above- explains in a phone interview.ground. Young potato warts are white inDonald says in P.E.I. Synchytrium colour and soft and pulpy in texture, andendobioticum has never spread through they darken and decay as they age. shipments. He has never seen a potato Potato wart reduces yields on potatoeswart infected tuber in his time working in and can make them unmarketable.the P.E.I. potato industry over the past 30 However, it poses no risk to humans oryears.food safety.The disease is spread by infectedThe P.E.I. Discovery I couldnt really believe tubers, infected soil, machinery,Potato wart was discovered in two fields implements used in infested potatoin November 2020 in P.E.I. The Potatothat they would be fields, potato cultivation, and footwearWart Domestic Long-Term Managementdoing this because and manure from animals that havePlan was put in place and seed exportstheres a management fed on infested tubers, the USDA says.to the U.S. were halted while the Synchytrium endobioticum is consideredinvestigation happened. The infectedplan in place. Its been a U.S. federal quarantine pest and hasfields were put under monitoring and withapproved by the CFIA been considered eradicated in the countryno further detections found, and exports since 1994. resumed in 2021.and the USDA. And its a To stop the spread of potato wartThe concern about the disease,plan that has worked. when its discovered in Canada, thereshowever, is ongoing. In April 2021, the Potato Wart Domestic Long-Term14 potato industry groups in the U.S.JOHN VISSERManagement Plan. The plan wasincluding the National Potato Council developed by the CFIA and accepted by(NPC) wrote a letter to the USDA stating the USDA. It was made after the first P.E.I.their concern for how Canada would potato wart discovery in 2000 and hashandle future potato disease threats.been revised since. On Oct. 1 and 14, 2021 concerns According to the plan, whenbecame reality when Synchytrium SPUDSMART.COM Winter 20227"