Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The conclusion of an arrangement to facilitate bilateral trade in potatoes between the United States and Canada was announced Nov. 1, and officials with the Maine Potato Board said it’s been a long time coming. “We’ve been going through this process for over 10 years … getting Canada to do away with Ministerial exemptions,” said Donald Flannery, MPB’s executive director. “Growers here in Maine and the United States call them bulk easements.
“It was a restriction on bulk potatoes [potatoes that aren’t packaged in any way] going to Canada. Prior to this new arrangement, the only way we could import potatoes into Canada was if there was a potato shortage [in Canada], and the neighboring provinces signed off on it,” he said. “Let’s say the potatoes were going to go to Quebec … the neighboring provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick would have to say that it was OK. What was happening was nobody would ever sign off and it just wasn’t working.”
The new arrangement, when fully implemented in year three, will allow a 60-day forward contract between U.S. growers and Canadian processors to serve as sufficient evidence of a shortage in Canadian potatoes.
Canada is the United States’ largest export market for agriculture, including potatoes. In 2006, the United States exported $92.8 million in potatoes to Canada, representing 68.73 percent of all U.S. potato exports. Since 2004, U.S. potato exports to Canada have increased by 38.13 percent.
While Maine was generally successful importing potatoes into New Brunswick, Flannery said not all areas were as lucky.
“What was happening was a lot of producers in the Mid-Atlantic and the South who were sending chipping potatoes up there were running into problems,” he said, “so it did impact us because we sell a lot of seed down there. It basically was a trade barrier that wasn’t doing anything for anybody.”
Flannery said the reason it took so long to reach the trade agreement was twofold.
“Canadian growers were very resistant to make the changes because they felt it would mean more potatoes coming into the country competing against them,” he said. “We came close a couple of times on getting this resolved, but every time there was a change in government, we had to go back to square one.”
In addition to addressing U.S. concerns about Canada’s procedures for granting Ministerial exemptions for potatoes, the arrangement will phase in quality inspections for potatoes at destination and will phase out spot-check inspections along the northeastern Canadian border crossing.
The United States will initiate a rule allowing some Canadian specialty potatoes that do not currently meet current U.S. quality standards for size to enter the U.S. market.
“Based on this year’s first eight months, U.S. goods trade with Canada could rise by $17 billion to a level of $550 billion in 2007,” said U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab. “Such trade expansion supports the creation of more productive, better paying jobs in both countries.
“This arrangement will facilitate more efficient trade in potatoes between our countries,” she said. “I would like to thank Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner and his staff at the Agricultural Marketing Service for their hard work and dedication in the successful negotiation of this arrangement.”
The agreement protects the right of each party to establish requirements and to conduct inspections at the border for health and safety reasons, and does not affect the rights or obligations of either country under NAFTA and WTO agreements.
“What it does now is if I’m a farmer in the United States and I have a contract – 60 days out from the date of shipment – with a processor in Canada, I can ship those potatoes without getting any other government approval,” said Flannery. “It eliminates any bureaucracy and trade restrictions. It opens up the market for U.S. growers going north.”
The United States and Canada began implementation of this arrangement Nov. 1 in order for U.S. producers to benefit during this year’s growing season.
