A New Way to Do Business
The Seed Potato Tuber Quality Management Program (SPTQMP) has been around for a few years. Under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency program, growers or staff members are trained and licensed by the CFIA to perform seed potato tuber quality inspections themselves before the product is shipped out.
Up to now, growers have signed up for the program on a volunteer basis — but that’s about to change. As of April 1, grower participation will be mandatory for domestic shipments of seed potato tubers.
The move to Alternate Service Delivery for seed potato tuber inspection is a cost-cutting measure by the federal government. The CFIA maintains the expansion of the SPTQMP builds on the success of a voluntary program already adopted by some 130 seed potato growers in Western Canada and New Brunswick.
However, it’s by no means certain whether it’ll be all systems go for a flawless transition come April 1.
The move to mandatory participation in the SPTQMP announced in last year’s federal budget caught many in the seed potato industry by surprise. As one regional potato representative states in our feature article on ASD for seed potato tuber inspection, for many seed potato growers from Ontario eastwards, “it’s a new way of doing business, so they will need time to adjust.”
A potential stumbling block is that the implementation date is right in the middle of the busy spring shipping season. Seed potato officials with regional associations say they have asked for the implementation date to be delayed, but their requests have been turned down. What this means in terms of grower readiness on April 1 remains to be seen.
Regional potato associations have also been busy communicating with their growers about the need to take advantage of training opportunities so that they are ready for the change in seed movement within Canada. It’s unclear whether there’s been sufficient time to ensure that everyone who needs this training receives it by the implementation date.
Will growers be ready for this new reality when the new rules for domestic shipments of seed potato tubers come into affect April 1? The answer to that question will be seen soon enough.
