GROWERS DRAW UP LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO TAKE INTO MEETING WITH PROVINCE TODAY.
Charlottetown Guardian | February 15, 2000 | Dave Stewart and Steve Sharratt
Prince Edward Island's potato industry will, according to this story, forward a number of recommendations to the province today in an attempt to address a drastic shortage of seed potatoes.
The story says that the shortage resulted from test results that showed unacceptable virus levels. Although still preliminary, nearly 50 per cent of the potato seedlots have tested positive and such high virus levels can't be planted this spring.
Industry officials, including process growers, table growers and seed growers, met for more than three hours behind closed doors in Charlottetown Monday to devise a plan of action for the shortfall which could put the Island's 113,000 acres of potato production in jeopardy.
Scott Howatt, president of the P.E.I. Potato Producers Association, was cited as saying test results certainly weren't encouraging but there is some light at the end of the tunnel, adding, "We have a number of high-generation seed stock which have good levels and it gives us a cornerstone for us to build the industry seed sector back up to the strength that it once enjoyed."
The industry could be looking at a number of options. It might choose not to plant potatoes at all but this option would likely mean millions of dollars in compensation for farmers as they suffer through a lean season.
Another perhaps more realistic option would be to allow for an increase in the importation of healthy seed potatoes for a while at least.
When asked about asking the province to allow the importation of more seed potatoes, Howatt was quoted as saying, "We've talked that over, we've made a decision, we've made recommendations to government and when we get with government (today) we'll give them an opportunity to ask the questions."
Tests on Russett Burbanks, the choice of french fry processors, are particularly poor and Cavendish Farms, foreseeing a shortage, secured a special order of Saskatchewan seed potatoes before last Christmas.
The says that the story virus in question stunts the growth of the potato plant, therefore lessening yields and spud sizes, but causes no hazard to human consumption.
Grower Vernon Campbell was quoted as saying, "If there is a bright spot it's that our post-harvest testing has revealed the problem a lot quicker.
And because of this problem, all segments of the industry are working together for a solution. There hasn't been this kind of co-operation since PVY-n and I don't think we've ever rebounded from that."
Once the king of the seed potato industry, P.E.I.'s fall from grace, according to critics, can be blamed on a lack of planning and massive acreage expansion during the last decade to supply a booming processing industry.
One industry analyst, asking not to be identified, was quoted as saying, "It's like burning green wood, if you will, instead of having a good supply of dry in the woodshed. There's always been this assumption that seed would always be available and this has been compounded over the past few years."
McCain Foods, which announced last fall it would no longer buy genetically modified potatoes, agreed last week to cost-share tests with growers to worm out genetically modified seed potatoes.
Meanwhile, Cavendish Farms has yet to indicate whether it will still process the gene-altered potato that has met with public resistance.
While only a small percentage is grown on P.E.I., the Bt potato is considered by many growers as a miracle tool in the farm management toolbox.
Campbell was further quoted as saying, "We'd be in an even bigger pickle if Cavendish banned Bt potatoes right now and it would put an even greater strain on the amount of available seed. I'm disappointed that McCain's went that way (against Bt potatoes) so quickly. I hate to see us slam the door on these advances and I'm concerned that door may be closing."
