File photo of a Prince Edward Island potato field. (Onepony/iStock/Getty Images)

P.E.I. potato exports cleared for Puerto Rico

U.S. territory has no commercial potato production

A U.S. territory with an appetite for Canadian potatoes and no commercial potato production to speak of will be able to resume imports of table stock potatoes from Prince Edward Island starting Wednesday. The resumption of exports to Puerto Rico, announced Tuesday, is a spot of good news for the province’s potato sector. Export certificates



File photo of a Prince Edward Island potato field. (Onepony/iStock/Getty Images)

‘Expedited’ potato wart survey helps make case for P.E.I., CFIA says

National survey done 'ahead of schedule'

A national survey finding no potato wart in any “unregulated” Canadian fields should offer the reassurance on Prince Edward Island potatoes that trading partners such as the U.S. are now looking for, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says. CFIA on Thursday reported it has completed this fall’s national survey for the soil-borne fungal potato disease

A botanist with APHIS’ National Identification Services (NIS) examines the contents of an unsolicited package of seeds under a microscope on July 30, 2020. (Photo courtesy USDA/APHIS)

Unasked-for seed packets considered ‘low-risk’

But don't plant, flush or compost them, CFIA warns

Federal inspectors say the unsolicited packages of seeds that have recently turned up in mailboxes across the country so far look to be “low-risk” — but still advise the public not to plant them. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have both reported

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Low-path H7N3 bird flu believed to have gone high-path in U.S.

High-path H7N3 found in South Carolina turkeys

A low-pathogenicity (“low-path”) strain of H7N3 avian influenza that recently turned up in turkeys in the southeastern U.S. appears to have gone high-path. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Thursday confirmed highly-pathogenic H7N3 avian flu in a commercial turkey flock in Chesterfield County, in northern South Carolina. “It




Drawing of an adult Khapra beetle. (GrainsCanada.gc.ca)

Beetles halt U.S. DDGs exports to Thailand

Chicago | Reuters — Exports of U.S. distillers’ dried grains to Thailand have stopped due to new fumigation requirements installed after beetles were discovered in a shipment last year, U.S. traders said on Friday. Thai government officials said U.S. shipments required certificates showing they had been “properly fumigated.” Traders said sales had effectively been halted


Cattle graze at a military base in Florida. (Wirepec/iStock/Getty Images)

Florida finds atypical BSE case

Chicago | Reuters — A six-year-old beef cow in Florida tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday. The animal tested positive for atypical H-type BSE on Aug. 26 at the Colorado State University’s veterinary diagnostic laboratory, as part of routine surveillance of cattle that are found to

Sclerotinia seen in canola, aphid populations rise in soybean crops

Manitoba Insect & Disease Update for August 16

Sclerotinia stem rot has been observed in scattered canola fields through the canola disease survey. In most fields levels are low, but incidence was about 50 per cent in a field in the Carman area. Blackleg symptoms are easiest to identify when stems are cut at the base. The perfect time to scout is at harvest, so bring your clippers along