It appears Prince Edward Island, Can., and New Brunswick seed potato growers won’t have much luck getting seed into Mexico this year at all.
PEI’s Federal Representative Wayne Easter is critical of Mexico for shutting out PEI seed “without good cause.” Mexico has been the Island’s most important trading partner in Latin America.
Island seed has been shut out since the fall of 2000. Mexico has cited the reason being PVYn virus. Easter calls it protectionism.
A technical panel with reps from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Mexico Food Industry has been established. A report is expected from this group in August.
However, Easter is not optimistic. He thinks the matter has been dragged out too long.