Food bank organizations are trying to distribute over 300 tractor-trailer loads across the country. This comes after potatoes were left sitting in island warehouses because of the 10-week ban on exports to the United States. The P.E.I. Potato Board is assisting to co-ordinate the shipments, as well as two of the country’s largest food bank organizations. Funding came from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced on November 21 that it was suspending the fresh potato trade to the U.S.. This was after the discovery of potato warts in two Island fields. This export is usually worth around $120 million per year to the P.E.I. economy and it came to a sudden halt.
John VanderZwaag grew up in P.E.I. and is now the operations manager at a product marketing and distribution company in Toronto. He explained “our growers in Prince Edward Island that we deal with have always been very helpful in filling the need when there was a need,… This year, we flipped the relationship around the other way, and now we’re going to lean on Second Harvest to help growers who are the ones in need.”
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