Question Period Note: POTATO WART ON PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Q1 – What do growers have to do to meet the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s regulatory requirements? Q2 – Will Prince Edward Island seed potatoes be allowed to resume movement to the U.S. and domestically off of Prince Edward Island? Q3 – Will the Government of Canada review its Ministerial Order in order to lift or relax the requirements? Q4 (AAFC) – How does the Government of Canada support potato farmers through federal programs? Q5 – What is the Government of Canada response to the potato wart judicial review? Q6 – How will the Canadian Food Inspection Agency utilize the recently announced Budget 2024 funding to prevent potato wart in Canada?

R.1 - Potato wart is a regulated pest in Canada and many other countries. Control measures are required to help prevent the spread of potato wart including surveillance, biosecurity and traceability.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is actively working with industry and various stakeholders to develop a new National Potato Wart Response Plan.
The response plan will aim to further enhance risk mitigation measures, minimize the impact of potato wart on Canadian industry, keep trade open and prevent potato wart from spreading. It is expected to be finalized in 2024. R.2 - Domestic movement of seed potatoes from Prince Edward Island is restricted under the Potato Wart Order and is only allowed following a case-by-case evaluation. Currently two farms are able to move seed potatoes domestically.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is in discussions with producers in Prince Edward Island regarding options for off-island movement of more seed potatoes across Canada. R.3 - At this time, the Potato Wart Order remains in place. It is an important legislative tool to control the movement of potatoes and other regulated things in a manner that helps contain, control and prevent the spread of potato wart within and out of Prince Edward Island.
There is currently no timeline in place to review this Potato Wart Order. Discussions with industry and stakeholders are ongoing to support the development of a new National Potato Wart Response Plan for the management of potato wart. R.4 - The Government of Canada acted quickly to provide up to $28M under the Surplus Potato Management Response Plan to effectively manage the potato surplus.
The Government provided a one-time payment adjustment to seed producers that will better align the support received through the Surplus Potato Management Response Plan with compensation provided under the Potato Wart Compensation Regulations.
Producers also have access to a suite of Business Risk Management programs including Agri-Stability and Agri-Invest to help them manage income declines at the whole-farm level. Participating producers also have access to the Agri-Insurance program for their production and quality losses. R.5 - The Government of Canada accepted the findings of the Federal Court on April 14, 2023, with regard to the legality of the Potato Wart Order.
The Prince Edward Island Potato Board appealed part of the findings. The case was heard before the Federal Court of Appeal on February 7, 2024. The Government of Canada awaits the decision.
Decisions continue to be guided by solid data, science, international standards, legislative authorities and best practices. R.6 - Budget 2024 announced $12 million over two years (2024-2026) to support the development of tools, scientific research and an expansion of surveillance activities to help manage and prevent the spread of potato wart in Canada.
This funding will allow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to transition to a new program, including enhanced measures for the long-term management of the potato wart pathogen.
These investments will help maintain public confidence in Canada’s potato industry at home and abroad.

Potato wart is a soil-borne fungal disease that can remain dormant in a field for more than 40 years. It is spread through the movement of infested tubers, soil and farm equipment. It reduces yield and can make potatoes unmarketable, but does not pose a risk to human health or food safety.
Control measures are required to help prevent the spread of potato wart including:
• Surveillance
• Biosecurity
• Traceability
Potatoes produced in the affected fields must be disposed of or processed in a manner that would not spread the disease. There is no rapid detection method for potato wart and there are no chemical treatments that could be used to eradicate it.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) currently follows the Potato Wart Domestic Long Term Management Plan (2009) developed specifically for potato wart to minimize the impact on Canadian industry and to help prevent this quarantine pest from spreading within Canada or to other countries through trade.

Timeline for most recent detections
In October 2021, the CFIA confirmed the presence of potato wart on two processing farms in Prince Edward Island (PEI). The investigations that followed were the largest since potato wart was first detected in PEI in 2000. They are now complete and involved the collection and analysis of almost 50,000 soil samples. Potato wart was detected in an additional 4 fields as part of the investigation. Since 2000, potato wart has been detected in 37 fields, across all three counties of PEI.
In the fall of 2023, the CFIA conducted the third annual national survey for potato wart to determine if it is detected in the soil samples collected and tested from fields located across Canada where seed potatoes are grown. As in previous years, the national survey was conducted in fields in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. There were no detections of potato wart. These results were communicated on February 20, 2024.
The 2023 national survey also included PEI for the first time since 2021. The 2022 survey activities did not include PEI because resources were focused on the ongoing investigations of potato wart on the Island. The 2023 samples were collected from unrestricted fields in PEI (i.e. fields that do not meet the definition of “restricted area” under the Potato Wart Order) as the investigation sampling focused on restricted fields. Laboratory analysis has been completed and potato wart was not detected.
On April 1, 2022, the United States indicated that imports of PEI potatoes for consumption could resume, with conditions including a request for increased surveillance of unrestricted fields in PEI. The United States has updated their federal order regarding PEI potatoes accordingly. Field grown seed potatoes from PEI may not be exported to the United States at this time.

Current management program
The requirements under the Potato Wart Order are expected to help contain, control and prevent the spread of potato wart to other parts of Canada and support continued trade. The current program allows PEI seed potato farms to operate and grow seed potatoes for use within the province and supports the continued movement of table stock and processing potatoes to other provinces. Seed potatoes are permitted to move out of the province when specific criteria are met. At present, two farms have met the criteria to do so.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Potato Wart Domestic Long-Term Management Plan (2009) remains in place and is being applied to the new finds, as are regulatory measures to help contain, control and prevent the spread of potato wart elsewhere in Canada, including in PEI. The CFIA is currently working with industry and stakeholders to develop a new National Potato Wart Response Plan.
The CFIA is also working to develop a program for Pest Free Places of Production and Pest Free Production Sites in PEI to support off island movement of potatoes with soil (i.e. seed potatoes or unwashed tablestock or processing potatoes) and other regulated things that move with soil (e.g. plants for planting, including sod).
Discussions with PEI potato producers on options to increase off-island movement of seed potatoes continue.

(AAFC content) Advisory panel on potato wart disease management on PEI
The CFIA engaged an international scientific advisory panel who provided its non-binding report to the CFIA on December 17, 2022, and to stakeholders on December 19, 2022. The panel presented its final report to the CFIA, AAFC, the government of PEI and Canadian industry stakeholders on January 16, 2023, and responded to questions.
The report is being used to continue discussions with industry, provinces and other pertinent stakeholders on the path forward for potato wart in PEI and the rest of Canada. It will be considered when informing the Agency’s future decisions on potato wart in PEI. These decisions will be made in accordance with its plant protection mandate as Canada’s National Plant Protection Organization under the International Plant Protection Convention.
The report is publicly available to all Canadian stakeholders on the CFIA website in both official languages. There are three methods to assess the viability of potato wart spores: field testing, pot bioassay, and microscopic examination of spores.
All three methods have known limitations, which could result in false positive or false negative results. Given the need to help control, contain, and prevent the spread of potato wart, the CFIA has not implemented any of these methods for diagnostic purposes.
Together with key partners, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the CFIA is closely monitoring the latest scientific research on potato wart and exploring opportunities to collaborate and accelerate research in priority areas, such as developing a reliable viability test using new molecular methods.

(AAFC content) Compensation
The Potato Wart Compensation Regulations were enacted in 2003 and may provide compensation for certain losses resulting from treatment, prohibition, restriction or disposition required because of the pest.
Compensation may be available to affected parties who have been issued a notice by the CFIA for any treatment, prohibition, restriction or disposition imposed as a result of the presence of potato wart.
The Prince Edward Island Potato Board has indicated that the Potato Wart Compensation Regulations are dated and should be reviewed.

(AAFC Content) Federal Programs to Support Potato Producers
1) Business Risk Management Programs
Business risk management (BRM) programs – including Agri-Stability, Agri-Invest, and Agri-Insurance are joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) programs that are in place to help producers manage risks that threaten the viability of their farms and provide protection against different types of income and production losses.
The full range of BRM programs is available to support impacts on potato producers in PEI. These are 60:40 cost shared programs between the federal government and the province.
• Agri-Stability protects producers against large declines in farming income for reasons such as production loss, increased costs and market conditions. The program provides approximately $3.2 million a year to support PEI producers in need.
• A large portion of potato producers (92%) participate in the Agri-Invest program, and funds are immediately available to use as they wish. The average account balance is approximately $90,000.
• Agri-Insurance will respond to production and quality losses directly caused by potato wart (i.e. directly infected farms) for participating producers. The protection may provide coverage for up to 90% of their losses.

2) Other AAFC Programs
The Surplus Potato Management Response Plan (SPMRP) was cost-shared between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Land. As part of this plan, the Government of Canada committed to provide up to $28M and the Province of PEI up to $12.2M. The PEI Potato Board delivered the plan on behalf of both governments to manage potatoes that had been rendered surplus.
The SPMRP aimed to divert as many potatoes as possible to processors, packers, other markets and food banks to minimize the amount of surplus potatoes that had to be destroyed and to support environmentally sound destruction of potatoes where needed. Destruction activities were completed in early March 2022 and diversion activities continued until August 31, 2022.
In the spring/summer of 2022, a difference in support level arose between those seed potato producers who destroyed their product under AAFC’s SPMRP and those who were compensated under CFIA’s Potato Wart Compensation Regulations. To address this difference in support levels, AAFC worked with the PEI Potato Board to deliver a one-time payment adjustment to those affected seed potato producers.
Payments under the SPMRP were delivered to producers from March 2022, through to the end of March 2023.

• The Government of Canada is committed to helping contain, control and prevent the potential spread of potato wart and protecting the agricultural sector of the Canadian economy.
• As part of this effort, Budget 2024 has provided $12 million over two years for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
• Over 95% of Prince Edward Island potatoes are eligible for movement to the rest of Canada, as well as export to Prince Edward Island’s primary export market, the United States.
• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is actively engaging with growers, provinces and trading partners on the development of the new National Potato Wart Response Plan.