The National Potato Council (NPC) and 13 state potato organizations are urging the US Department of Agriculture to immediately reinstate a ban on fresh potato imports from Canada’s Prince Edward Island after confirmation that potato wart has been detected outside previously controlled areas. In a letter sent May 18 to USDA Deputy Undersecretary Dudley Hoskins, the coalition warned that the disease is spreading beyond established quarantine zones, posing a significant risk to the US potato industry, which remains free of the pathogen. Cam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council, emphasized that an outbreak in the United States would cost billions of dollars in direct and indirect economic damage and lead to the loss of thousands of American jobs. Potato wart is a soil-borne fungal disease that deforms tubers and can remain dormant in soil for decades, reactivating when host plants are grown.
Concern escalated after Canadian authorities confirmed the disease had breached firebreaks and spread beyond quarantine zones on Prince Edward Island, leading to an additional 400 hectares being placed under quarantine. The US potato industry generates over 225 million in annual export losses. Quarles pointed to Newfoundland as a cautionary tale, where potato wart spiraled out of control, making potato cultivation and transportation nearly impossible. The coalition criticized the Biden administration for previously reopening the border in 2022, calling it a diplomatic inconvenience, and stressed that policy must not compromise disease prevention. “Disease doesn’t care about your politics,” Quarles said. “It wants to spread. It wants to infect potatoes.”
