Financial losses – and anger -- continue to mount for Prince Edward Island potato growers as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) maintains its ban on seed and fresh potato exports to the U.S. due to findings of potato wart, a soil-borne fungal disease having no human health impact.

David Bailey, acting chief plant health officer, CFIA, saysthat it could be 2023 before the soil sampling and testing are completed to meet new requirements of the U.S. That’s how extensive and exacting the investigation will be. 

“The last four weeks have been horrible for Island farmers, but we’re not giving up,” said John Visser, grower and chair of the PEI Potato Board. “We are here to show the federal government, who walked us into this situation, how we’re feeling and the impact that their ineffective action is having.”

The PEI Potato Board estimates $4.8 million in lost salesfrom November 22 to December 8, compared to the volume it shipped during the same period in the previous year. This will become a paltry number as the ban looks to be months, not weeks, in effect. 

The same day as PEI growers publicized their unfortunate lot, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced $28 million to divert the surplus potatoes to food banks and to dispose of them in an “environmentally-sound” way. In cold terms, this means dumping potatoes back on the land and chopping them up with snowblowers so they can freeze and break down over the winter. 

“This is heartbreaking and completely avoidable,” says Visser. “Our potatoes are safe and healthy to be shipped across Canada, yet the nine million Americans we feed every year cannot have access to them. Every farmer on this island plants in the spring and nurtures and cultivates the crop in order to feed people. That’s what we do. And to know that own own federal government put us in this position and continues to do very little to help us is beyond frustrating.”

When news first broke about the border closure onNovember 20, the first urge of potato growers was to blame the United States and in particular, the stance of the National Potato Council. An all-hands-on-deck delegation visited American officials on December 16 in Washington, including Prince Edward Island’s premier Dennis King, the provincial agriculture minister Bloyce Thompson, the executive director of the PEI Potato Board Greg Donaldand others. 

The National Potato Council’s CEO Kam Quarles issued astatement that day reiterating that “this is a plant health issue not a trade dispute.” He says, “The ultimate solution in satisfying the plant health experts at APHIS involves aggressive testing, quarantining, enhanced mitigation and monitoring efforts.” He is referring to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 

The U.S. position has perplexed potato growers such as John Visser who says that no potato wart has ever left the island in the 20 years it’s been managed uner the Potato Wart Domestic Long-Term Management Plan. It’s a surveillance and detection program whose rules are agreed upon by both Canadians (CFIA) and Americans (APHIS).So what went wrong in communications between the two parties in the last year? 

“The federal Minister of Agriculture is responsible for the CFIA which created this situation,” says Visser. “The Minister put the ban in place but has not been able to explain why the same scientifically accepted management practices, which are good enough to allow United States potatoes into Canada, are not good enough to allow PEI potatoes into the United States. This is not some academic discussion; this is the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Islanders at stake.”

Visser points to the ongoing shipments of potatoes from Idaho and 15 other states which have pests that are quarantined or regulated. In these instances, the CFIA accepts washing and sprout inhibitors as a way of controlling the risk from American potatoes coming north –the same process used by Prince Edward Island to manage potato wart.

A national issue 

The disrupted trade flows also affect other Canadian provinces explains Greg Donald, general manager, PEI Potato Board. 

“At a certain point, the surplus of potatoes is simply toomuch to sell in other markets or to hold on to and ship if and when the border opens,” he says. “Plus flooding the Canadian market with too many potatoes puts immense downward pressure on pricing for our fellow potato farmers across Canada. Our own farms are receiving much less for their potatoes since the ban and we do not want one of the unintended outcomes of this situation to be damaging other farm families across Canada.”  

That’s exactly the worry of Ontario growers, for example, who are holding large inventories from a record harvest in 2021 and who are keen to maintain current pricing trends in a marketplace that tops 14.8 million consumers.

“The Ontario Potato Board (OPB) has contacted retailers to emphasize the hard-earned relationships with Ontario growers and the hope is that the loyalties will bereciprocal,” said Shawn Brenn, chair (OPB). “We empathize with PEI growers about the devastating news, but we want to alleviate any collateral damage to Ontario with fair pricing.”

Managing relationships

As the reality of a hard border closure bears down on PEI potato growers, political pressures are rising up for federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. Not only is she managing the relationship with U.S. secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.Add to that her fellow Liberal MPs on Prince Edward Island, her provincial ag minister counterpart and the PEI Potato Board.

For such a complex file, she’s coaxed Fred Gorrell out of retirement to co-chair the Government-Industry PotatoWorking Group along with Greg Donald, PEI Potato Board. As a former assistant deputy minister of agriculture, Gorrell is welcomed for his gravitas and experience as a former leader of the Market Access Secretariat.

In her December 20 announcement, Bibeau underlined that PEI producers can now access up to 75 per cent of their expected AgriStability payment on an interim basis. While more than 80 per cent of PEI potato farmers already subscribe to AgriStability for 2021, all PEI producers now have access to the AgriStability program since the late participation provision is in effect. 

None of this is balm for 175 PEI potato producers. All they want is to make a living from the best crop they’ve grown in years.

DIGGING DEEPER

In January's Digging Deeper podcast, John Visser, chair of the Prince Edward Island Potato Board, wants answers from the CFIA on why the border is closed to PEI exports of seed and fresh potatoes to the United States.