AgronomyASD of Seed Potato Tuber Inspection

ASD of Seed Potato Tuber Inspection

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[deck]It’s the new reality for Canadian seed potato growers shipping their tubers domestically as of April 1. Are farmers ready?[/deck]

Beginning April 1, Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors will no longer perform grade and quality inspections for seed potato tubers shipped within Canada.

Under Ottawa’s newly expanded Seed Potato Tuber Quality Management Program (SPTQMP), seed potato growers or their staff will have to carry out the job themselves, after becoming licensed and registered by CFIA to perform the inspections.

This move to Alternate Service Delivery for seed potato tuber inspection, one of the cost-savings measures announced in last year’s federal budget, took many in the industry by surprise. With only a few weeks to go before the implementation date, a lot of growers — particularly in Eastern Canada — are scrambling to get familiarized with the program.

“This just came out of the blue,” says Mary Kay Sonier, seed coordinator at the Prince Edward Island Potato Board. “We had no idea it was [going to be] a part of budget 2012, and we had no indication from government sources prior to the budget announcement that they were considering making this mandatory.”

Deb Hart, seed coordinator at the Potato Growers of Alberta, says the budget-cutting measure “is certainly something that nobody wants to see happen, because we’re losing government services.”

Lisa Murphy, senior media relations officer for the CFIA, says the move to ASD for seed potato tuber inspection followed a review of agency services. “The CFIA regularly reviews its programs and adjusts them as required,” she says. “The agency also looks at new methods and technologies to most effectively deliver programs and adjust to industry practices.”

The CFIA maintains the expansion of the SPTQMP builds on a successful voluntary program for seed potato tuber inspection that’s already been adopted by more than 130 seed potato farms in Western Canada and New Brunswick.

“The CFIA is building on the experience gained since 2006 on the use of the seed potato quality management program for the inspection of seed potato tubers and the issuance of domestic documents,” says Murphy.

“The program has shown to be effective for maintaining the shipment of high-quality seed potatoes and compliance with Canada’s seed potato regulations. Full implementation of this program allows the CFIA to maintain a high seed potato quality standard while addressing any capacity issues,” she adds.

“Recognizing growers, their representatives, or service providers through a seed potato quality management program gives seed potato growers increased flexibility as they prepare shipments of seed potato tubers. In addition, such a program will enable the agency to target its resources more effectively towards its core mandate — the health and safety of Canadians and protecting Canada’s plant and animal resources.”

Murphy stresses that while the CFIA’s role in the direct delivery of seed potato tuber inspection is being reduced, the agency is not relinquishing any of its responsibilities in the area of seed potato crop inspection.

“The agency remains responsible for phytosanitary certification, seed potato crop inspection, and it will continue to be involved in activities that support tuber inspections, including the audits of participating growers in the seed potato quality management program,” she says.

Too Few Inspectors

The capacity issues referred to by Murphy are the result of not enough CFIA inspectors, primarily in Western Canada where there’s a lot more ground to cover than in eastern potato-producing areas. It’s why the voluntary program for seed potato tuber inspection came about in the first place.
Sonier says this added convenience is not without a price, however.“It has been very successful in locations in the West because they have more significant travel distances between farms than we do here in the East,” says Sonier, with the result that getting an inspector out when you need one out West can be problematic. “They also ship a large volume of seed in a very short period of time, so it just becomes a human resources logistics issue,” she adds.

“There’s a cost to growers for sure, because they’re the ones who have to have the human resources in place on their own farm to do the inspections and keep the inspection records and things like that,” she says. “That cost is something that’s being downloaded onto the growers, basically.”

However, Sonier says many farmers have found the voluntary system “more user-friendly because they can do the inspections when they want.”

Hart agrees that Western Canadian potato growers have come to appreciate the added flexibility through this process.

“Because [seed potato growers in] in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been on the program for so long, they’re OK with it,” she says. “They can ship 24/7. They don’t have to rely on CFIA being there physically with each load that leaves, so there’s definitely that flexibility.”

However, Hart acknowledges seed potato growers from Ontario eastward were probably caught off guard with the announcement. “It’s a new way of doing business for them, so they will need time to adjust,” she says.

Part of that adjustment, according to Sonier, is dealing with the extra work involved. For a larger seed potato operation, she says, this may mean hiring an extra person to do the inspections, but for smaller operations like many of those on P.E.I., the major impact will likely be in terms of time.

“It’s going to make it more difficult,” says Sonier. “Now when you’re grading, you’ll have to take the time to do the actual inspections, you’ll have to keep all the paperwork so when they come and audit your farm, you’ll have to have all inspection and shipping records up to date and signed, showing everything meets the guidelines. It’s one more demand on your time.”

The program has shown to be effective for maintaining the shipment of high-quality seed potatoes and compliance with Canada’s seed potato regulations. Full implementation of this program allows the CFIA to maintain a high seed potato quality standard while addressing any capacity issues.

— Lisa Murphy

Writing on the Wall

Gord Visser is an Alberta seed potato grower and member of the seed potato sub-committee of the Canadian Potato Council. He along with Hart and Sonier has been involved in industry discussions with the CFIA regarding the move to ASD of potato seed tuber inspection.

Visser admits he’s concerned that proper consultation with the potato industry may not have taken place prior to the CFIA making the announcement, but he supports the program regardless.

“Personally I support the Seed Potato Tuber Quality Management Program as a farmer, and I think our seed potato growers in Alberta do as well,” he says. “As soon as it started, where we could go on voluntarily, our farm went on it, so we’re quite familiar with it and we’ve adapted to it.”

Visser says he wasn’t entirely taken by surprise by the announcement.

“It’s been a volunteer program, but the writing’s been on the wall for the last six years anyways, that this is something that growers are going to have to do,” Visser says, acknowledging the process has been “fast-tracked” because of the budget.

It’s been a volunteer program, but the writing’s been on the wall for the last six years anyways, that this is something that growers are going to have to do.

—Gord Visser

Murphy says the CFIA is working with key industry stakeholder groups to minimize the impact of the move to ASD for seed potato tuber inspection and ensure a smooth transition to the mandatory program going into effect in April. That includes information sessions with growers at regional potato association meetings across the country, and providing the necessary inspection training for growers.

According to Murphy, the agency will address industry concerns “and make adjustments where necessary to ensure undisrupted movement of high-quality seed potatoes.”

Sonier is among those worried about the transition.

“I’m not sure how smoothly the transition is going to take place, because it’s scheduled to come into effect right in the middle of our busy spring shipping season in March and April. We’ve asked repeatedly to have the implementation date delayed so it comes between shipping seasons instead of the middle of spring shipping season, [but] there’s been no change to the implementation date,” she says.

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