Montague, Derek Fredericton, Halifax, Moncton, New Brunswick, News, Nova Scotia, Saint John 0

Greg Donald could have been referring to anything precious. But the general manager of P.E.I.’s Potato Board was talking about the island’s most precious export: the potato.

When two cases of potato wart were found in P.E.I. crops last fall, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) put a ban on potato exports to the United States. To make matters worse, seed potatoes are banned from being exported throughout Canada as well.

With literal mountains of potatoes piling up on P.E.I. farms, farmers are being forced to destroy them: 300 million pounds across the island. The common method is to chop them up with a snowblower and spread the scraps along vast fields.

An average P.E.I. potato weighs roughly 148-200 grams. That means between 681 million and 909 million individual potatoes are going to waste.

“There’s a lot of pride in producing a good crop,” Donald told Huddle in an interview. “That’s your reward for all the blood sweat and tears. To have to destroy it is unthinkable.”

“How it makes the farmers feel, I can’t even describe.”

Alex Docherty, who operates Skyview Farms in Elmwood with his family, did his best to describe what it’s like to destroy his own crop.

“It’s just a disgrace to our country,” Docherty said. “It’s pretty sad, I’m sure you can hear the frustration in my voice.”

Farmers forced to destroy their potatoes at least get some compensation. The federal government has given $28-million to the disposal program and the P.E.I. government has put in an additional $12-million.

Three million dollars of that money has already been used to transport potatoes to food banks and charities across Canada. The rest will be used to compensate farmers killing their own crop to the tune of 8.5 cents per pound.

Greg Donald says that it costs 12.5 cents per pound, on average, to grow a potato. So farmers are taking a loss.

“We’re forced into this without any other option,” says Klaas Nieuwhof, operator of Blue Bay Farms in New Glasgow.

By the first week of March, Nieuwhof will have destroyed 7.5 million pounds of potatoes. Docherty is chopping up seven million pounds.

Many people’s natural reaction to hearing about such waste is to ask why more isn’t being donated to food banks and families. But those involved say there are just too many potatoes and not enough new markets.

“Even if there was a new market in South America, for instance, there’s no way to get the product there before it expires,” said Nieuwhof. “It’s really disheartening when you have to destroy a perfectly good crop for no reason whatsoever, other than a bunch of bureaucrats bungled (the issue).”

This anger towards the decision-makers in Ottawa is a common theme when talking to farmers about the potato export bans.

They are confused about why a ban was necessary, given that P.E.I. has had a potato wart management plan in place since 2000-the year wart was first discovered. They argue the ban has been effective in surveying fields and preventing spread.

Docherty pulled no punches when asked about his opinions.

“You put a little bit of incompetence–no, change that–you put a whole bunch of incompetence in Ottawa, with people who have no idea what they’re doing, with a stroke of a pen they destroyed what it took generations to build,” he said, anger boiling in his voice.

“They’re living up in never-never land in Ottawa and most of them think potatoes come from the Superstore in the produce section; they’re that stupid.”

Docherty is also frustrated with how the world has come to believe that P.E.I. must be “infested” with potato wart, given the severe export restrictions in place.

“If you’ve seen a mouse running across your office floor, you’d say, oh my god, ‘we have a mouse,’” Doherty said. “Now, if you seen a thousand rats running across it, you might say ‘hey boss, I think we’re infested here.’”

When the exports halted last fall, Canadian officials said the USA could have implemented its own ban, which would be difficult to lift. Officials argued federal restrictions on this side of the border were better for P.E.I.

In an interview with Huddle, Canada’s Minister of Agriculture, Marie-Claude Bibeau, said she sympathizes with farmers who are struggling because of the export ban. But she said the restrictions were necessary because of the concerns caused by the two potato wart cases discovered.

“Last fall, we reached a certain level with the two new detections, considering where they were…we’ve crossed a line,” said Bibeau.

Bibeau was asked how the feds settled on $28-million for the potato disposal program, considering it doesn’t cover the cost of growing the potato. The Minister didn’t directly answer the question, but said the government is monitoring for “gaps” in the program.

“We want to see who the farmers are who will be the most affected; to what extent the business risk management programs and the $28-million will support,” said Bibeau.

“For now, our priority is to reopen the American market for table stock potatoes-to start with.”

Bibeau says her team is working “around the clock” on resolving the export issue. Earlier this month, Canada succeeded in convincing America to allow exports of table stock potatoes to Puerto Rico, now they are hoping to reach the continental US.

“We’ve got a strong scientific case behind that. However, the Americans asked to do further studies and we’ve provided them with additional evidence,” said Bibeau.

“I still expect to have the conclusion of their risk analysis within a few more weeks.”

Concerns are growing about the future of P.E.I. potato farms, many of which have existed for several generations.

Nieuwhof operates Blue Bay Farms with two brothers, a nephew, a son, and his sister. The farm has been in business for 42 years.

Because of Blue Bay’s diverse customer base, Nieuwhof thinks his family will survive this ordeal. But he knows farmers who rely heavily on the US market-some as high as 98 percent.

“There’s going to be some farms that aren’t going to plant again because of this,” he said.

Dochertybsays he is uncertain about the future of Skyview, a family farm that was founded seven generations ago, in 1848. Four different generations are still working on the farm, including Docherty’s 86-year-old father.

Skyview is in a difficult position since it focuses on growing seed potatoes. Table stock potatoes can at least be sold across Canada and Puerto Rico. But seed potatoes must be kept on the island. Given the market uncertainty, even P.E.I. customers are hard to find.

“Every day I have customers in P.E.I. cancelling seed now,” said Docherty. “ If the border ain’t open, are they going to plant?”

“Maybe you just hope it opens? Hope don’t get you far at the bank. If you owe the bank a million dollars and you say: ‘I hope to sell potatoes to the states next year,’ they’re not going to look at you too friendly.”

Many comparisons are being made to what farmers went through in the year 2000, when Potato wart was first discovered on P.E.I. There are pictures of farmers from 22 years ago chopping up their potatoes in wide fields-much like today.

But Docherty argues this time around is much, much worse. In the year 2000, he only had to destroy a million pounds of potatoes, compared to seven million this time around.

He also argues the expenses for operating a farm in P.E.I. have more than tripled over the past 20 years.

“It probably cost $1,500 21 years ago to grow an acre of potatoes; now $3,500 won’t do it,” he says.

Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected] . 

New Brunswick, News, Saint John

Huddle will only approve your comment if you provide your first and last name.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.