<b>By KEVIN WALKER<br>
Michigan Correspondent</b></p><p>

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin is now officially free of the potato cyst nematode (PCN), a microscopic worm-like creature that can wreak havoc with potato crops.<br>

That’s according to Jane Larson, a spokeswoman for Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Wisconsin ranks third in the country in potato crop acreage, so having a clean bill of health regarding PCN is good not only for Wisconsin potato farmers, but the potato industry nationwide.
Larson said that Wisconsin has been taking small samples of soil out of potato fields since 1982 to keep a look-out for PCN.<br>

“With this survey we looked at many, many more samples than we normally do,” she said. “We sampled all of our seed potato fields.”
That amounts to 8,500 acres of seed potato fields and a sampling of the 66,000 acres of potato table stock. Larson said that the PCN issue is important, in part because if PCN is detected it can have international trade implications.<br>

That’s what Mike Cooper, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Agriculture, said as well, though he also said that “Japan and South Korea have always had bans in place.”<br>

National and international markets can refuse to accept potatoes from the entire state if PCN is found in just one small area. These markets can then demand detailed field surveys to prove that PCN has been eradicated before opening their markets up again.
Idaho is the number one producer of potatoes in the United States, with 300,000 acres; so it was a big deal when state and federal officials announced that PCN had been found there in April, 2006. After that the feds established a quarantine area near Shelley, Idaho, that encompasses about 10,000 acres.<br>

According to a chronology provided by the federal Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, since the quarantine was enacted no new PCN has been found outside of the quarantine zone.<br>

“Last May we did a methyl bromide fumigation on a few fields, 1,100 acres,” Cooper said. “We’re still doing a lot of general surveying. This summer we’re going to do about 100,000 soil samples.”<br>

PCN is rare in North America, and officials would like to keep it that way. After the detection of PCN in Idaho, a closely related cyst nematode was found in Quebec, called Golden cyst nematode. Then, in November 2007, the Golden cyst nematode was detected in Alberta, Canada. Before these recent findings, cyst nematodes were only known to exist in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland, British Columbia and New York state. PCN is widespread in both Europe and South America.<br>

Wisconsin is the first major seed-producing state to complete the survey, which was funded by the federal government. Of the 15 states participating in the nationwide survey, 11 of them - states that are certified as seed potato producing states - are the most important. These include Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.