The fruit and vegetable industry last week got some political help for a self-grading experiment aimed at trying to avoid government cost-recovery charges.
The Canadian Horticultural Council is organizing a series of pilot projects that would allow farmers to win accreditation to grade their own produce according to government standards.
The farmers would have to create a manual and a “quality assurance model” for how they would meet the standards. Inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency would monitor their adherence to the agreed-to system with spot checks.
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It would be a voluntary program.
Last week during the CHC annual meeting, agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief announced a $451,000 contribution to go with $152,000 provided by the industry.
“By taking control of quality processes on their farms, they will provide the highest level of quality produce for export and domestic markets,” Vanclief said.
Cost avoidance
But mainly, it is an attempt by fruit and vegetable farmers to avoid the cost of having the food inspection agency do the quality grading and then charge them for the service.
“It is looking at an alternative to CFIA hands-on inspection,” said Guy Lafreniere of Agriculture Canada’s policy branch. “It is trying to work out the details of how the industry can take over quality assurance on their own.”
A number of sectors are taking the same route, trying to take over services they think they can do more cheaply than the government.
The pedigreed seed sector has organized the Canadian Seed Institute and the beef industry is doing its own grading.
In the fruit and vegetable sector, the areas to be involved in the pilot projects are onions, apples and potatoes.
Vanclief said food inspection agency staff will help the industry develop standards for self-grading. It also will certify producers accredited to join the program after reviewing their plans.
And he said the agency will try to work out a deal with the United States Department of Agriculture to allow Canadian produce from the pilot projects into the U.S.
The Canadian experiment is patterned after the American Partners in Quality program, which allows producers of citrus and potato crops in some states to do their own grading.
