2 farm fields in Darlington County are currently under quarantine after a new pest was detected in their sweet potatoes.
Back in 2017, Clemson’s University Department of Plant Industry discovered a ‘guave root-knot nematode’ during a routine survey in Darlington.
“Over the course of 2018 it’s become a growing concern that this particular pest is a threat to not only the potato but to cotton and soybean. All which are important throughout South Carolina and the southeast,” said Steven Long assistant director, DPI Clemson.
Louisiana ad Mississippi currently will not accept sweet potatoes, seeds, or slips from the state. The impacted sweet potatoes look damaged, but consumers who use them on a regular basis should not be concerned.
“There’s no harm in eating any of the crops that this nematode damages. But it does cost damage to the sweet potato itself,” said Long.
On Thursday, News13 spoke to a local farmer who has grown sweet potatoes for more than 20 years and said inspecting your crops should be done regularly so something like this doesn’t spread.
“Make sure you got the best you can get. If you’re not growing them yourself, or even if you are you have to make sure it’s right. I mean you can’t talk any shortcuts,” said farmer Ricky James.
If your farm field is infected by the pest, it should be taken care of immediately. “It’s just something that would hurt the yield for the farmer and it could spread through other crops too during the rotation from one crop to another. That’s one of the major preventative plans to try and stop it,” said James.
Both farmers who have been impacted in the Darlington area are restricting their crops to prevent the pest from spreading.