Reading Time: 2 minutes A system of “pest-free places of production” (PFPP) is now on the drawing board for Prince Edward Island’s potato sector, following a meeting between federal and industry officials. Federal Agriculture Minister and P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay on Friday reported meeting with staff and representatives of the P.E.I. Potato Board, to discuss next steps in the […] Read more
P.E.I. potato growers, CFIA to draft plan for ‘pest-free places’
Plan would support movement of seed potatoes, feds say
P.E.I. names new deputy ag minister
Gordon MacFadyen replaces Brian Matheson
Reading Time: 2 minutes Prince Edward Island’s Premier Dennis King has named a new top bureaucrat for the province’s agriculture ministry and others, to manage a fresh round of post-election ministerial mandate letters. Gordon MacFadyen, most recently executive director of fiscal management and assistant secretary to Treasury Board with the provincial finance department, was announced Aug. 8 as deputy […] Read more
Ag leaders welcome MacAulay’s appointment as AAFC Minister
The minister’s new role was part of the Liberal government’s recent cabinet shuffle
Reading Time: 3 minutes Industry leaders and organizations are welcoming the July 26 announcement that veteran MP Lawrence McAulay will be taking over the post of Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food–and wasting no time calling him to action. It is the P.E.I. MP’s second time in the role, having previously held it between 2015 and 2019. MacAulay took over […] Read more
Thompson returns as P.E.I. ag minister
Ag and land ministry split; Compton not returning to cabinet
Reading Time: 2 minutes Prince Edward Island’s former agriculture minister is again its current ag minister, in a post-election cabinet shuffle by returning Premier Dennis King. Bloyce Thompson, MLA for the district of Stanhope-Marshfield since 2019 and ag minister from 2019 until last summer, was again appointed April 14 as King’s minister of agriculture, justice and public safety and […] Read more
P.E.I. ag minister, ag critics re-elected
Tories return with majority; Liberals regain official opposition
Reading Time: < 1 minute Prince Edward Island’s incumbent agriculture minister and opposition agriculture critics prevailed in Monday night’s provincial election, in which incumbent premier Dennis King’s Tories were returned with a majority. Darlene Compton, King’s agriculture minister since last summer and his incumbent deputy premier, won re-election Monday for the Progressive Conservatives in her district of Belfast-Murray River. Compton, […] Read more
P.E.I. table stock potato exports to U.S. now allowed
New U.S. order replaces previous requirements; seed potatoes still blocked
Reading Time: 3 minutes Exports of Prince Edward Island table stock potatoes are again officially allowed to enter the mainland United States, after new U.S. entry rules regarding potato wart were published Friday. Canada’s federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said on Twitter that officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are now preparing to certify exports of eligible […] Read more
P.E.I. testing finds potato wart in another field
Testing stemmed from last October's detection
Reading Time: 2 minutes Soil samples taken on Prince Edward Island following detections of potato wart last fall have turned up another field with the fungus that causes the disease. The P.E.I. Potato Board on Tuesday said the field in question is near to, and is “directly associated” with, a field where the soil-borne disease was found in October. […] Read more
P.E.I. potato exports cleared for Puerto Rico
U.S. territory has no commercial potato production
Reading Time: 3 minutes A U.S. territory with an appetite for Canadian potatoes and no commercial potato production to speak of will be able to resume imports of table stock potatoes from Prince Edward Island starting Wednesday. The resumption of exports to Puerto Rico, announced Tuesday, is a spot of good news for the province’s potato sector. Export certificates […] Read more
Canada hopeful for P.E.I. table potato trade in weeks to Puerto Rico, U.S. mainland
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada is hopeful of resuming shipments of table potatoes from the province of Prince Edward Island to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in two weeks, and to the U.S. mainland in the weeks following that, partially resolving a trade dispute, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said. Bibeau met in Washington on Thursday with […] Read more
‘Expedited’ potato wart survey helps make case for P.E.I., CFIA says
National survey done 'ahead of schedule'
Reading Time: 2 minutes A national survey finding no potato wart in any “unregulated” Canadian fields should offer the reassurance on Prince Edward Island potatoes that trading partners such as the U.S. are now looking for, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says. CFIA on Thursday reported it has completed this fall’s national survey for the soil-borne fungal potato disease […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
