AgronomyEye On The Nation

Eye On The Nation

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Canadian Potato Council

David Jones, Manager, Potato Industry Co-ordination
Canadian Horticultural Council/Canadian Potato Council

The Canadian Potato Council continues to be active in advocating for Canadian potato producers and has made significant progress on a number of initiatives over the past year.

A major milestone was reached with the completion of the National Potato Research and Innovation Strategy. Based on a series of industry stakeholder consultations conducted across the country last summer, the strategy articulates stakeholder priorities for research and innovation in the Canadian potato industry over the next 10 years, and serves to focus research efforts for Growing Forward 2 funding opportunities. Its development was partially funded by the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agricultural Innovation Program. The strategy is available on the CPC page of the CHC website.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has released the voluntary National Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for the Potato Sector (available on the CFIA website). This first plant sector biosecurity standard was a collaborative effort by the CFIA, the CPC, potato industry sector organizations and provincial departments of agriculture, with funding provided by AAFC. It identifies specific biosecurity target outcomes for potatoes related to access management, plant health management and operational management. An accompanying producer guide will provide current information on a variety of biosecurity best practices that may be implemented by growers on their farms to meet the target outcomes. All potato producers in Canada will soon receive directly through their provincial organizations a biosecurity package that includes the Standard, Producer Guide, Biosecurity Checklist and Biosecurity Mini-Poster.

The CPC has also completed a project to identify plant pest response best practices for the greenhouse and potato industries in Canada. Activities included the completion of a literature review to identify the components of existing plant pest response plans in key identified countries of interest. This was followed by a survey of stakeholders in foreign countries with experience with plant pest response plans, to understand how these programs worked at the practical level. Based on this information, a model of best practices was proposed as components of a plant pest response framework for Canada. This project was partially funded through AAFC’s Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program. Taking the framework developed in this project, the next step will be to initiate a new project to develop a detailed plant pest response plan proposal for Canada.

The collaboration of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island growers on export development through Potatoes Canada continued this past year. Activities included exhibiting at international trade shows, hosting incoming trade missions and entering Canadian potato varieties in foreign in-country performance and/or registration trials, and developing a web-based potato variety catalogue. Funding for this project is being provided by the AAFC AgriMarketing Program, the governments of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Potatoes New Brunswick and the P.E.I. Potato Board.

The CPC continues to advocate for potato producers in Canada by engaging in consultations on CFIA modernization initiatives and responding to other important industry issues including the repeal of container standards, potato cyst nematode and the associated implementation of testing fees, the Canadian Partners in Quality Program, Plant Breeders’ Rights renewal, and changes to the Seed Potato Quality Management Program.

The next meeting of the CPC is March 11 and 12 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa, prior to the CHC Annual General Meeting. The CHC’s Potato Committee meeting is slated for March 15 in Ottawa.

Saskatchewan

By Kirk Flaman, President
Saskatchewan Seed Potato Growers Association

Saskatchewan potato producers harvested an average crop during the fall of 2012. Conditions were dry later in the fall, which was different than the previous couple of years.

The Saskatchewan Seed Potato Growers Association held their annual conference in late November. Our members had another great list of speakers! Topics such as “Falgro for Small Potato Production,” “Herbicide Drift,” “Effectiveness of Different Disinfectants on BRR,” “Varietal Development,” “Control of Wireworm” and an update from CFIA were presented. Thank you to our sponsors and trade show representatives for your continued support for our industry.

Members of our Board of Directors were elected, and a few new growers have stepped up. Our board consists of the following members:  Scott Anderson, Elly Konst-vander Veldt, Andrew Kazakoff, Jan Konst, Jeff Curtis and Jaap Huininga. Thank you to those who have stepped forward!

The board and membership of the SSPGA extends to all potato producers a happy holiday season and all the best in 2013.

Alberta

By Helmut Leili, Executive Director
Potato Growers of Alberta

Potato growers in Alberta had an excellent season in 2012, starting with the planting period. The total acreage planted was the highest ever for the province. The vast majority of the acreage was planted for processing (75 per cent), while seed was second (20 per cent) and that grown for the fresh market came in third (five per cent).

A few problems developed over the summer growing period, but with excellent weather—especially during the harvest period—the crop yielded better than average. The current crop is doing very well in storage, although in the late fall, some problem bins needed to be managed by the processors to minimize storage damage while maintaining finished product quality. Crop contract negotiations have not yet started for 2013, but will be initiated in the coming weeks.

The purchase of the Maple Leaf potato processing plant in Lethbridge by Cavendish Farms is being viewed as very good for Alberta’s potato growers. They have publicly stated that their vision is to grow their western Canadian business. The main challenges for Alberta growers will be the government cutbacks in applied and theoretical research, particularly in areas of disease control and new variety development.

We have a strong land base for crop rotation and strong focus on land stewardship. Coupled with a very good climate, growers continue to feel very optimistic about growing potatoes in Alberta in the near term.

Manitoba

By Garry Sloik, Manager
Keystone Potato Producers’ Association

As reported in our last Eye on the Nation report, Manitoba processing potatoes experienced a tremendous variation in production in 2012. The season until mid-June was ideal; it was then followed by a few months of stress.  Thankfully there are a lot of very good quality potatoes in storage, and processors shouldn’t have to import potatoes this season. The processing plants will need to be efficient and match the raw to the different runs of finished products. To a large extent, this has been and is being done on a consistent basis with some challenges. The growers with top-quality product will need to be patient and fill in when requested—gone are the days of constant deliveries.

Growers and processors will be discussing which varieties work best in those areas where there are variety options. Growers are thankful that some variety options exist, although not nearly to the extent that many producers want. A stressful season always highlights the weaknesses of Russet Burbanks.

Seed availability will enter the picture as seed growers also faced some challenges in 2012. This raises concern as to where the early generation seed potatoes are going to come from, as this is a shrinking base in our neighbouring province of Saskatchewan. In addition, better commodity prices in the last few years entice small acreage seed growers to concentrate on less intensive, less capital-demanding crops rather than seed potatoes, which affects production of early generation seed potatoes.

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