Budget to Decontaminate Potato Fields in Idaho
State budget writers have approved allocating USD526k to help research dispose contaminated fields in Eastern Idaho.
According to officials with the Department of Agriculture, the pesticide seeped into the soil after state and federal agencies used it to eradicate a potato pest called pale cyst nematode.
The request, made up of both state and federal funds, is part of an ongoing effort to treat the negative impacts of a pesticide known as methyl bromide, applied on potatoes in Bingham and Bonneville counties in 2006
Government officials were allowed to use the pesticide, but they weren’t expecting it to contaminate over 2,000 acres of crops.
The contamination wasn’t noticed until a ranching family reported deformities and sickness in their herds in 2014.
The USDA developed a national pesticide residue monitoring program and produces the most comprehensive pesticide residue database in the U.S. -Pesticide Data Program (PDP).
The Monitoring Programs Division administers PDP activities, including the sampling, testing, and reporting of pesticide residues on agricultural commodities in the U.S. food supply, with an emphasis on those commodities highly consumed by infants and children. The program is implemented through cooperation with state agriculture departments and other federal agencies.
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