WIRE: 08/15/2001 7:21 pm ET

Mexico bans import of U.S. potatoes, fearing spread of pest

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico banned imports of fresh U.S. potatoes Wednesday, turning back shipments at the border because of a microscopic worm that burrows into the tubers. The ban will be lifted as soon as U.S. growers can prove that their potatoes are worm-free, said Pascacio Taboada, a spokesman for Mexico's agriculture department.

"When it is certain there are no problems, we will begin importing potatoes again," he said.

The worm, called a root knot nematode, lives in the soil, devours potato plants and burrows inside the tuber, reducing a potato's market value. Although the pest is already found in some parts of Mexico, officials worry that it could spread to areas that have not been infected.

U.S. officials are meeting with the secretary of agriculture in Mexico to try to "clear up the situation," U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Meghan Thomas said.

According to the USDA, Mexico received 10 percent of all U.S. potato exports last year.

Rick Zink, a plant pathologist at Colorado State University, said the decision seemed unnecessary.

"It's really not a monumental problem in the United States," he said.

Mexico and the United States have long fought over the import and export of their agricultural products, sometimes for pest reasons, other times to protect their market

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20010815_1777.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 15, 2001

Answers

Of course everyone knows what a root knot nematode is. Right?

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 15, 2001.

Of course: everyone on this list grows a potato crops as a legacy of Y2K preps, right?

Actually, I do, in my home garden: just a small amount -- usually three or four varieties in raised 4'x8' beds, organically as much as practical. The advantage of small holdings is that you can pick off many pests by hand and avoid spraying. "Death, death to the Colorado beetles!" (It helps to swear at them too.) Last year we produced enough to supply my wife and myself not quite through a full year; I broke down and hand-sprayed a little copper sulfate to control fungus but we still had a lower yield than usual. I hate to have to return to store-bought 'taters! You haven't lived till you've eaten new potatoes with fresh rosemary, right from your own garden...

Anyhow, about this pest, which *can't* be picked off by hand:

See http://www.cipotato.org/Projects/potato/impp/pests/nema.htm from the International Potato Center.

Also see description at the bottom of page ("Columbia Root-knot Nematode Control in Potato Using Crop Rotations and Cover Crops") at http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/html/em/em8740/em8740.html

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@state.pa.us), August 16, 2001.