Restrictions ease for potato exports

Thursday, May 22, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Changes to rules governing potato cyst nematode management and seed potato exports will make it less expensive plus reduce delays and paperwork for Canadian farmers shipping product to the United States, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.

In a May 20 announcement, CFIA says effective immediately seed potato growers are eligible to export three crops without additional soil sampling and testing if their fields have been tested twice and determined to not be infested with potato cyst nematode. The new rules are part of revised guidelines to manage potato cyst nematode adopted by Canada and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Previously, seed potato growers were required to complete sampling and testing for every seed potato crop being exported to the U. S.

Potato cyst nematode does not pose a risk to human health but it is recognized internationally as a destructive plant pest of economic importance and is a quarantine pest for Canada and the U.S., CFIA’s notice says.

Don Brubacher, general manager of the Ontario Potato Board, says the new rules “will certainly facilitate the movement of seed potatoes and there will be less restrictions on them.” Potato cyst nematode has never been found in Ontario, he says, noting it was found in Alberta and Quebec. Those finds occurred in 2007.

Canadian seed potato growers have been asking for restrictions on moving their product into the U.S. market to be lifted, he notes.

Brubacher says there are very few potato exports from Ontario that go to the U.S. but nationally this is a big matter for growers.

CFIA says Canadian seed potato exports to the U.S. are valued at more than $25 million per year.

In other potato news, Brubacher says planting in Ontario is behind with only 40 per cent of the crop planted so far due to the cool, wet weather. Normally “we’d be closer to 80-85 per cent done.”

Weather forecasters are predicting a run of good weather “in the next six or seven days so there will be a lot of potatoes that will get planted in a short time if they get some nice days back to back,” he says. This year’s crop planting will be similar in size to last year at 38,000 acres. BF