The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is committed to helping contain, control, and prevent the spread of potato wart. The new National Potato Wart Response Plan has been finalized and will take effect with the 2025 potato crop.
The response plan outlines measures and activities that must be followed when a potato wart detection is confirmed and applies to new detections of potato wart anywhere in Canada, other than Newfoundland and Labrador. It replaces the Potato Wart Domestic Long-term Management Plan (2009).
The CFIA met regularly with stakeholders, including the Canadian Potato Council, the Prince Edward Island Potato Board, and the Province of Prince Edward Island (PEI), throughout the development of the response plan. Input from these stakeholders has helped make the final response plan inclusive of information and expertise from the potato sector including growers and grower associations, and trading partners.
New measures
- Preventive control plans: Users of restricted fields must develop and implement preventive control plans to identify and manage risks associated with potato wart.
- Seed potato certification: Certification will no longer be available for seed potatoes grown in restricted fields, as seed potatoes are a significant risk for spreading the disease.
- Soil sampling and analysis: Additional soil sampling and analysis is required before removing potato wart phytosanitary measures from restricted fields.
The CFIA has met with potato growers in PEI to review the new response plan and discuss the transition for users of fields that currently have potato wart related restrictions; fields in PEI already under restriction will be assigned an equivalent status under the new response plan. This will be based on the steps growers and/or landowners have already completed toward a field's release from restrictions under the 2009 management plan.
Complementary measures
The response plan is one of several measures used by the CFIA and industry to manage potato wart and help prevent its spread:
- Field and tuber inspections: The CFIA and growers, packers, and exporters complete field and tuber inspections and postharvest testing as required by CFIA programs and regulations. These are also key to meeting the requirements of countries importing Canadian potatoes.
- Potato Wart Order compliance: Requirements remain in place to restrict the movement of potatoes (seed, table stock and processing potatoes) and other regulated things such as farm equipment and soil within the province of PEI and to other Canadian regions.
- National Potato Wart Survey: Ongoing monitoring of Canadian potato fields provides valuable data to verify the effectiveness of control measures.
All of these measures are critical in helping maintain confidence in our plant health system, both domestically and abroad, as well as minimizing the possible impact on market access for Canada's potatoes.
