‘We lost all our customers off P.E.I.’: Potato growers struggle with tough decisions as some export bans continue

ELMWOOD, P.E.I. — Alex Docherty from Skye View Farms in Elmwood, P.E.I. is doing what he has accomplished each spring for greater than 4 a long time – getting his potato crop into the bottom.

Nevertheless, the fifth-generation farmer is going through a wholly new set of challenges in 2022 because the repercussions proceed after final fall’s ban on the export of P.E.I. potatoes.

“We misplaced all our clients off P.E.I.,” stated Docherty in an interview with SaltWire Community. “Slightly over six million kilos we bought off P.E.I., and (these clients) are gone without end.”

Potato exports had been halted in November 2021 by the Canadian Meals Inspection Company after potato wart, a illness brought on by the Synchytrium endobioticum fungus, was present in two P.E.I. fields. The invention led to Canada shutting down shipments of potatoes from P.E.I. after a risk from america that it could act to ban shipments if Canada didn’t.

Whereas the ban on contemporary potatoes was lifted in March, seed potatoes nonetheless can’t be shipped to the U.S. A home ban on shipments between provinces additionally nonetheless applies.

“We misplaced all our clients off P.E.I. Slightly over six million kilos we bought off P.E.I., and (these clients) are gone without end. — Alex Docherty”

When the ban was applied, many worldwide consumers needed to depend on inventory from exterior of P.E.I. Prior to now, their provide would have been primarily offered by potatoes from the Island. With the longer term unsure, some P.E.I. farmers consider consumers could proceed to get their potatoes from different suppliers as insurance coverage if the bans proceed.

“I don’t consider I’ll ever have any of my clients off P.E.I. again once more for a very long time,” Docherty stated.

Unsure future

Though the ban not applies to desk inventory potato farmers, many are nonetheless cautious of what the longer term holds.

Robin Steijn has been farming desk inventory since he was 14 years previous at Steijn Potato Farms in York, P.E.I. Steijn stated the ban turned one of many busiest instances of the 12 months right into a time of full uncertainty.

“For about two or three weeks, we hardly packaged something. At a time the place usually you’d be making terribly lengthy days to attempt to fill all of the orders, we had been form of simply sitting on our arms.”

It was estimated that greater than 300 million kilos of potatoes needed to be destroyed on the Island. Even with exports seeking to return to regular, farmers like Steijn nonetheless really feel the chance. He stated his crop can be decreased by about 10 per cent this 12 months.

“So long as it doesn’t occur once more, we will hopefully carry on persevering with with the enterprise. However it definitely is a form of horrifying concept,” Steijn stated.

Provincial helps

On Might 12, the P.E.I. Division of Agriculture and Land introduced its Soil Building for Seed Producers Project, a $3 million funding that would supply funding to Island seed potato growers. Amongst different necessities, farmers would want to scale back their 2022 seed acreage by 10 per cent to be eligible.

For a lot of seed potato farmers, the announcement got here too late. Many, like Docherty, already had their inventory for the season.

“Each seed grower I talked to already had their plans and seed in place. They knew what they had been doing. We needed to make choices,” Docherty stated.

This system supplied farmers as much as $1,000 per acre of land that was not planted with seed potatoes. However with many farmers already having their seed inventory, selecting to not plant may very well be expensive.

“All of us had greater than $1,000 an acre price of seed in our buildings to plant,” Docherty stated. “I’ll be thinking about a month from now to see what the uptake was.”

SaltWire Community contacted Agriculture Minister Bloyce Thompson for remark, however he was unavailable by deadline.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding beneath the Soil Building for Seed Producers Project, candidates should:

• Be capable to reveal misplaced gross sales on seed potatoes on account of potato wart.
• Scale back complete seed potato acres in 2022 by at the very least 10 per cent from 2021.
• Scale back total potato acres and never substitute with desk or processing.

Shedding the market

For each Docherty and Steijn, rising potatoes on the Island has been their livelihood for many years. To see what they’d spent years creating practically come crumbling down was a tough capsule to swallow.

“You lose a little bit of that market that we had, and that’s irritating to consider as a result of there was actually no want for it. Generations labored to get that market, and now it’s simply gone in a matter of weeks.” — Robin Steijn

“You lose a little bit of that market that we had, and that’s irritating to consider as a result of there was actually no want for it. Generations labored to get that market, and now it’s simply gone in a matter of weeks,” Steijn stated.

As for Docherty, he’s nonetheless planting a full crop once more this 12 months regardless of the export ban, reducing again on some varieties whereas including a brand new selection he hopes will catch on in P.E.I. However whereas the longer term stays unknown, the results of the bans from final 12 months can nonetheless be felt.

“To do enterprise for many years after which to have that pulled out from beneath you, it’s fairly a factor.”