08/24/06 Signup for for some spud growers

There is going to be a federal order that will regulate the interstate movement of potatoes and other articles from an area surrounding some potato fields near Shelley that had Potato Cyst Nematode. While the details of the work plant are still pending, Wayne Hoffman of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture is urging Shelley area potato growers to do their part. HOFFMAN "Now what we need is for farmers who are interested in being able to export their products in an expidious fashion to sign up for soil sampling. There is a signup form that is already available and you would go and get that form and fill it out and send it to the potato cyst nematode office." PCN has been detected in two fields and that's a concern for some foreign and domestic consumers of Idaho potatoes. Canada, Mexico and Korea won't take Idaho potatoes and Japan has stopped importing all US spuds. State and federal officials continue to believe the PCN infestation in eastern Idaho is isolated because of the more than 73 hundred additional samples taken since the April detection; all have been negative for PCN except for those from the two fields. The samples taken since April are from 39 production fields, 22 seed potato fields and 56 facilities. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott