New York’s long campaign against a potato-destroying pest is getting a boost from $1.2 million in state aid for a new research center at Cornell University.
The grant will rebuild an aging, World War II-era center that focuses on the battle against the golden nematode, a microscopic, subterranean worm native to South America that has been in parts of Long Island since the 1940s. It is also found in several upstate counties west of the Finger Lakes region.
Part of Cornell’s research includes development of 22 varieties of nematode-resistant potatoes, first used in the 1960s as part of efforts to push back the worm. State and federal agriculture offices also have placed areas of potential infestation under quarantine.
The worm destroys the roots of potatoes, which are a $70 million annual crop in the state—about half being used in the production of potato chips in New York and Pennsylvania. So far, there is no reason to believe chip lovers ought to be worried.
While a species of nematode that can feast on resistant potato varieties was found in the state two decades ago, it has not spread due to years of quarantine measures, said Walter de Jong, associate professor of plant breeding and biology at Cornell.
“We are on top of this,” de Jong said. Cornell also developed a new potato variety—known as NY-140—that can resist the new nematode, but so far, its use has remained in testing fields.
Last year, about 380,000 acres of potato fields in eight counties remained under quarantine by state and federal agriculture officials, according to online information from the USDA.
In 2012, New York’s state Department of Agriculture and Markets removed 300,000 acres from quarantine after nematode infestations appeared to have been eradicated. At that point, the state announced a goal to remove another 850,000 acres from quarantine by 2015. No updated information on the quarantine effort from state officials is currently available.
Quarantine controls involve the use of nematode-resistant potatoes and decontaminating of potentially contaminated soil from farm equipment before it can leave a quarantine area. Once nematodes can no longer be detected on a farm, the quarantine can be lifted.
The nematode can spread through shipping of infested potatoes and movement of farm machinery. In 2006, the sudden discovery of another type of nematode in eastern Idaho led to import bans by Canada, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.
“We cannot risk the survival of our potato growers because we fail to contain the golden nematode,” said Republican state Sen. Tom O’Mara.” “That is the industry’s greatest threat.”
Source: Albany Times Union