The Prince Edward Island government will soon cut funding to provincially funded potato disinfection services.
The move is expected to impact one full-time job, which is being transferred within the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, and several part-time and seasonal positions that will in all likelihood be lost.
The disinfection service has been in place for over 30 years, spraying potato transport trucks coming to P.E.I., local machinery and warehouses, to eliminate bacterial ring rot,.
The news was shocking to many Kinkora area potato growers like Greg McKenna of Country View Farms.
“I personally think it’s a service that’s seriously needed,” McKenna said, “just for safety and security. We’ve been fortunate here that we haven’t had bacterial ring rot for quite some time … but if we have tractor trailers coming in here … from other potato-producing areas, and if they’re contaminated with a disease, and they’re not cleaned and disinfected properly, those diseases can come here.”
Agriculture minister Alan McIsaac is expected to appear before the province’s standing committee on agriculture and fisheries Tuesday to answer questions about the cuts. Speaking Monday evening, McIsaac said his department has been working since springtime with the P.E.I. Potato Board to come up with a more equal cost-sharing agreement to keep the disinfection service open, but they were not able to reach a compromise.
“We’re the only province in Canada that was doing this for their potato industry, and we’re not doing it for any other commodity,” McIsaac pointed out. “So we were willing to carry on paying part of it, but not all of it to the extent at which we were.”
According to figures provided by the department of agriculture, the disinfection service cost roughly $500,000 annually. Most of that came from taxpayers.
The potato industry contributed by paying $10 per truck sprayed, but that accounted for less than half of the actual cost, bringing in only about $127,000 for the 2014-15 season.
Adding to the department’s decision is the relative rarity of the disease the program is meant to resist. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, only five cases of bacterial ring rot have been reported in all of Canada since 2008.
The province will continue to provide assistance to growers who find themselves dealing with an outbreak of disease. Funding is also available should individual farms want to spray against bacterial ring rot on their own initiative.
However, the move to discontinue the service is not sitting well with McIsaac’s Liberal party colleague Rob Henderson, MLA for the O’Leary-Inverness electoral district.
Henderson’s represents one of the heaviest potato-producing areas of the province. He said Monday he’s concerned what this cut will mean for his constituents.
“Our No. 1 industry and commodity is the potato itself, so if contagions or pathogens get spread just because we’re not on top of these things … there are dire ramifications that could be had,” said Henderson. “I would hope that the government and the minister would revisit this situation and try to come up with a solution that’s workable for all.”
The two men will have a chance to discuss the matter Tuesday as Henderson chairs the standing committee on agriculture.
Source: The Guardian