ALBANY, N.Y. — Potato farmers in upstate New York have reason to be cheerful. Regulators have lifted restrictions on 300,000 acres of farmland after growers eliminated a devastating potato pest.
State Agriculture Commissioner Darrel Aubertine says farmers have adhered to a strict eradication strategy since the 1940s to eliminate the golden nematode, a very small but destructive worm. The area removed from regulation by the state and the U.S. Department of Agriculture account for around a quarter of the restricted acreage in the state.
Farmers have been working to eliminate the destructive nematode through rigid crop rotation and equipment sanitation practices.
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