Potato Wart Reported In Eastern Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has advised Prince Edward Island that the U.S. border is currently closed to its fresh market and seed potatoes after potato wart was found on two island farms. Earlier this month, seed potato exports were halted, and on Monday the Canadian Food Inspection Agency expanded the US export ban to include all fresh market.

Potato wart poses no threat to human health or food safety, but the fungus can be spread through infected potatoes and attached soils. P.E.I. potatoes continue to be exported within Canada and internationally beyond the United States.

News of the U.S. export ban has hit Canada’s island-province hard, following one of its best potato crops in years. The premier of Prince Edward Island says that the federal government has failed to protect a mainstay industry in this issue. Premier Dennis King believes that both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Federal Agriculture Ministry are playing trade politics with his provinces biggest economic driver.

“I have no doubt the United States, by their sheer size and their economic power in the world, are a difficult trading partner. But at a certain point you do have to stand up and say, ‘if you are bound and determined to make these decisions then you go ahead and make them.’ Why our Canadian government would make them is beyond me? Our industry deserves that respect, and they deserve someone to listen to them and to stand up for them in Ottawa.”

In defence, Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said that United States did not leave Canada much choice. If Canada had not issued the order voluntarily, the U.S. would have imposed the order which would make it far more difficult to reverse.

“If we had not done that, we would be facing an American ministerial order. I’ve spoken to the Agriculture Secretary. He is talking about a temporary ban, and he’s open for scientific-based discussions. And we will put all of our resources to resume the trade as soon as possible.”

This isn’t the first time a U.S. ban due to potato wart has happened. Seed potato shipments from P.E.I. to the U.S. were shut down back in 2000 when potato wart was first found, and there was no trade disruption when the fungus was found there in both 2012 and 2014. But this time around, Premier Dennis King says that the federal government’s knee-jerk decision has put political expediency before science, placing the island’s economy in jeopardy.

“We have been dealing with our wart management plan that was developed by CFIA, it’s accepted by the USDA, and nothing that has been done is any different than what we have been doing. Something is lost here in the translation, and we’re at a loss here to figure out what it is. And its going to be potentially devastating to the island economy.” 

Federal Agriculture Minister Bibeau did not offer any timetable as to when the suspension will be lifted.

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