SOUTH PINETTE, P.E.I.- Prince Edward Island farmer Robert MacDonald will never forget the day last October when he first became collateral damage in the potato war between Canada and the United States.
Rumours had circulated for several days that a disease crisis was about to break out.
Still, MacDonald and his brothers Albert and Murray had three trailers ready, with 1,000 50-pound bags per trailer, to ship to the United States. They sent them.
The next day, the U.S. government announced that the border was closed to P.E.I. potatoes because of an outbreak of potato wart on the island.
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MacDonald’s trucks were turned back at the New Brunswick-Maine border and returned to the farm.
“That day probably cost us $6,000 or $7,000,” says the 42-year-old farmer.
It was the beginning of a nightmare for his farm and P.E.I.’s potato industry.
The wart outbreak was confined to one field on a Cavendish Farms site 120 kilometres west of the MacDonalds’ A&R Farm. The industry, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, guaranteed the outbreak had been contained.
The Americans refused to accept Canadian science and kept the border largely closed until a deal was worked out this summer. Canadians complained about protectionism but could do little.
Potato prices fell, Montreal and Toronto markets were flooded and farmers were paid to compost excess potatoes for fertilizer.
“It was wicked,” MacDonald says. “That was a once-in-a-lifetime day, I hope, and it started a once-in-a-lifetime winter.”
The MacDonald brothers operate a large farm. On a three-year rotation, they typically grow 800 acres of potatoes, 1,300 acres of grain and 1,300 acres of hay. The milling grain goes to a plant in Kentville, N.S.
The hay goes largely to their 300 head feedlot and their 100 head cow-calf operation.
But potatoes are the mainstay crop and until last year, the New England market was a major source of income.
More than 70 percent of the yield from their 480 acres of table potatoes – as much as 8.4 million lb. – were sent south in a typical year.
Last year, none went south. MacDonald says the farm lost tens of thousands of dollars.
Huge mounds of potato compost accumulated on the land as federal and provincial governments paid farmers to dispose of deteriorating potatoes in storage.
And the MacDonald farm drained its Net Income Stabilization Account to try to get through the year. By taking more than they were allowed under NISA rules, the brothers were kicked out of NISA for two years.
“We lost a quarter million dollars easily, maybe $300,000 on the year,” he says.
“Compensation didn’t come close to covering it.”
Still, because the Canadian Farm Income Program depends on a rolling historic average and all income sources are counted, MacDonald says his farm did not qualify for CFIP help last year.
“This year, we were told by the accountant not even to bother applying. It is absurd.”
As well, crop insurance coverage returns less than the costs of putting in the crop.
“Crop insurance nickels and dimes us to death.”
He said he insured up to 146 hundredweight of potatoes per acre, compared to a typical return of 250 cwt., and expects a drought-reduced harvest of 140 cwt. or less.
“That would give me a pay out of $16 an acre, just the cost of two fungicide sprays a year. That’s a joke.”
This year, the MacDonald farm faces the task of regaining its market niche in the U.S. while facing another daunting challenge – the impact of a drought that has reduced the expected potato harvest.
He expects there will not be enough production this year to fill potential U.S. markets.
MacDonald says he hopes P.E.I.’s reputation will help it re-establish its important niche in U.S. markets when product is available.
But meanwhile, his farm is like many other island farms – coping with the effects of the 2000 U.S. potato embargo and then this year’s drought, the worst in 41 years.
Typically, 15 percent of the MacDonald crop is sold under contract to McCain Foods as processing potatoes. Another 25 percent is sold as seed potatoes domestically and to markets as diverse as Uruguay, Venezuela and Brazil.
This year, supplying those markets will be tight and P.E.I. farmers still are trying to recover from last year’s disaster.
MacDonald is not impressed by the kind of help offered by the federal government in what he considers extraordinary times.
“I’m not a big subscriber to conspiracy theories, but how long has it been since we had an agriculture minister who stood up for us?” he asked, bouncing along roads from one drought-drooping field to another.
“It’s almost like they don’t care about us and appoint ministers to make the point.”
