Central Montana Times

U.S. Senator Steve Daines has joined a bipartisan group of senators in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to increase efforts to protect crops from the potato wart disease.

"If potato wart should enter the United States, our farmers and the communities they support will be economically devastated," the senators wrote in a letter. "Given that twenty percent of our potato crop—valued at over $2 billion—is exported, we cannot allow introduction of a disease that would shut off access to international markets, and also curtail domestic production and sales."

Potato wart is a highly destructive disease that reduces crop yields and makes potatoes unmarketable. There is currently no treatment available to remove it from contaminated farmland. Senator Daines urged the USDA to take specific actions to protect crops from this threat.

Senator Daines joined Senators Crapo (R-Idaho), Wyden (D-Ore.), Boozman (R-Ark.), Collins (R-Mich.), Cramer (R-N.D.), Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ricketts (R-Neb.), Risch (R-Idaho), Bennett (D-Colo.), Cantwell (D-Wash.), Fetterman (D-Pa.), Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), King (I-Maine), Merkley (D-Ore.), Murray (D-Wash.), Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Tester (D-Mont) in signing the letter.

Read the full letter here.