Testing of seed potato fields across Alberta has found no potato cyst nematode (PCN) population anywhere in the province, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday.
Over 8,700 soil samples have not confirmed the pest’s presence, even after tests in October turned up the “possible presence” of PCN in two fields in the northern part of the province, CFIA said in announcing the completion of soil testing for 2007.
Many of the samples were taken over the course of the year as part of the joint Canada/U.S. PCN certification process for seed potato trade between the two countries. More were collected in the months since the two initial positive tests turned up in October.
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PCN — a tiny, wormlike pest that can survive in infested soils for years and feed on plants — is deemed a quarantine pest because it can reduce yields of host crops such as potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants by up to 80 per cent. It poses no risk to human health.
According to the Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA) in early December, the two PCN-positive samples — in this case, golden nematode — appeared only in a “trace” presence on two farms, in one out of 284 and one out of 143 initial samples respectively.
CFIA put controls on the two farms right away, and CFIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture closed the U.S. border to Alberta seed potatoes in November, after the initial test results. A requirement was added that Alberta potatoes for U.S. consumption must be “substantially free” from soil. However, by late November, CFIA said it had yet to find any PCN in its ongoing testing.
Mexico, meanwhile, followed the U.S. lead in early December, putting temporary restrictions on all potato imports from the province.
However, “at this time, neither the U.S. nor Mexico has indicated that they will lift their temporary trade restrictions,” CFIA said in its news release Thursday. “The CFIA is continuing its discussions with the USDA and (Mexico’s agriculture ministry) and has provided them with all requested information to achieve a resolution to these temporary trade restrictions as quickly as possible and to reduce them to a smaller area of Alberta.”
CFIA noted that financial assistance programs are in place for farmers to help deal with farm income losses, including those due to other countries’ regulatory measures.
“It is essential that trade resume within several weeks,” the PGA wrote on its web site in early December. “Long-standing customers in the U.S. and Canada are seeking assurance that their seed requirements will be met and that shipping season commitments will be met.”
