Good news for potato growers

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's 2023 National Survey for Potato Wart shows the pest was not detected in any of the soil samples tested. 

Over 2000 soil samples were collected from fields in key potato-growing areas like PEI, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

The national survey results have been provided to provinces, the Canadian Potato Council, and the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The soil survey,  as well as specific and general visual potato wart surveillance, has been ongoing since the disease was first detected in PEI in 2000 which resulted in the closure of the U.S.-Canada border to all fresh PEI potatoes for six months.