Washington - Farmers on Prince Edward Island will soon be able to resume exporting potatoes to the United States, after months of Canada suspending shipments due to the discovery of small bumps on potatoes in the fields on the island.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a press release today stating that the two countries have reached an understanding.

The USDA says that exports of Prince Edward Island potatoes can resume under certain conditions, including that the potatoes shipped to the United States come only from fields not known to be infected with those bumps.

Canada stopped exporting potatoes from Prince Edward Island last November to avoid a U.S. ban; the continental U.S. market has been closed to all the island's potato imports since then. Canadian potato exports to Puerto Rico resumed last month.

The local council responsible for potato farming on the island said the potato industry on the island lost more than $25 million before exports resumed to Puerto Rico.

Potato bumps are a fungal parasite that spreads through the transfer of infected potatoes to uninfected fields and their contact with soil and equipment. Although it poses no risk to human health, it leaves the potatoes deformed and can reduce crop yields.

Editor: Dima Abu Khair