It is microscopic and lives in the soil, and when an affected potato dies, it releases ever more spores. According to Gordon Henry, a national manager with the CFIA, the fungus has been detected in 34 PEI fields since 2000, accounting for more than 1,600 acres of land in the province. The disease, it should be said, is no small concern. The reason: findings in two fields of a soil-borne fungus that left affected potatoes with what The Washington Post described as an “unsightly canker.” That meant the sudden loss of the largest market for potatoes in the Canadian province that produces the largest share of them – an island where the potato is part of its very culture and identity. In November, 2021, amid fears that Washington would issue a ban, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) suspended shipments of potatoes from Prince Edward Island to the United States. But then, in his words, things “hit the fan.”
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