OTTAWA — The United States is lifting key restrictions on shipments of Prince Edward Island potatoes, ending a bitter six-month dispute that pitted Canadian science against U.S. protectionism, senior officials said Wednesday.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service were working out final details late Wednesday, said Ron Krystynak, Agriculture Canada’s deputy director of Canada-U.S. trade issues.
It will be several days before potatoes start moving across the border, said Rory McAlpine, executive director of the department’s International Trade Policy Directorate. The changes only apply to the 2000 table potato crop, most of which has already been chopped up and spread on Island fields as fertilizer, said Krystynak.
Seed potatoes — a relatively small portion of exports — will still be banned, he said. And shipments to the United States will still be limited to potatoes that have been washed, sprouted and packed in 50-pound bags.
Similar restrictions on movements of table potatoes within Canada — a major sticking point — have been lifted, though other conditions may apply.
The United States banned Prince Edward Island spuds in October after potato wart was found in a corner of a single field. While the highly contagious disease doesn’t harm humans or other crops, it causes unsightly bumps that leave potatoes
