News Release

PGI calls on Canada to Disclose Information on Seed Potato Disease

BLACKFOOT, ID — A Canadian potato grower association is asking its country’s courts to withhold information that a Washington family needs to prove their case in a suit against Prairieview Seed Potatoes Ltd. CFIA decertified Prairieview Seed Potatoes Ltd in 2003 for BRR. The Canadian grower admitted that they had a problem with BRR but still remained within the Canadian certification program.

The Washington family is suing Prairieview for $10,000,000. The suit alleges that the seed potatoes Prairieview supplied them were infected with Bacterial Ring Rot (BRR). That is a disease which can destroy an entire crop, and cause huge economic losses. It is also a disease that is both costly and time consuming to eradicate from farm implements, storages and fields. In a word, a BRR infection can be devastating.

Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA) is suing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to block release of any information regarding its testing and certification of Prairieview’s seed as meeting a supposed zero tolerance for BRR. This is a suspected attempt by Potato Growers of Alberta to protect its growers from the consequences of a seed potato inspection system that is inadequate, said Seed Potato Growers of Idaho President, Ray Hess.

The PGI official said the Canadian seed potato industry is risking its reputation and future by failing to require adequate safe guards to protect their customers, yet severely restricting shipments (that are stringently tested by Canada) of either commercial or seed potatoes having higher standards of quality and production from the U.S. into either some or most provinces. Idaho, Washington and other potato producing states have been adamant in demanding that the U.S. counterpart to CFIA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) require independent, third party shipping point inspections of all loads so that they can check for quality, lot identification and disease before crossing into the various U.S. states to be planted. The BRR issue in this case is the main reason why we have been so adamant in our demand, and it apparently is also one very big reason why Canada has been so reluctant to agree.

Hess says this kind of problem can jeopardize the fragile relationship we are developing with Mexico as an important market for U.S. potatoes. The Mexican government has put the U.S. industry on notice that our potatoes have to be disease free, or they will close the borders to our exports all over again. Hess also wonders if PGA’s suit to block release of information is an indication of a possibly more wide spread problem with disease than anyone in Canada has yet acknowledged. At the very least, the transparency of the Canadian system has some serious problems that our neighbors to the north should reconsider and address rather then trying to bury their problems in their court system.

Meanwhile, PGI strongly urges growers to begin now to line up seed commitments for next spring from U.S. sources. Growers need to protect themselves until this very serious threat is adequately resolved. If Canadian seed growers are going to use the courts to keep U.S. growers from making informed buying decisions then growers have no choice but to take action to protect their own interests, said PGI Executive Director, Keith Esplin.

PGI calls upon the U.S. potato industry, APHIS, the U.S. trade negotiating team and Congress to ensure that the U.S. industry is protected. PGI believes this is best accomplished by requiring independent, third party shipping point inspections for each and every load of seed potatoes identifying quality, variety, lot and grower that crosses our state borders. PGI also calls upon the Canadian potato industry to set aside their own agenda and join with the U.S. in establishing a transparent, fair, and responsible system to protect the North American potato industry.