File photo of a Prince Edward Island potato field. (Onepony/iStock/Getty Images)

P.E.I. potato exports cleared for Puerto Rico

U.S. territory has no commercial potato production

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

A tractor-mounted snowblower runs through rows of piled-up surplus potatoes on a field near Victoria, P.E.I., about 35 km west of Charlottetown, on Dec. 20, 2021. The shredded potatoes are expected to break down over the winter as compost. (Screengrab from P.E.I. Potato Board video)

Canada hopeful for P.E.I. table potato trade in weeks to Puerto Rico, U.S. mainland

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


File photo of a Prince Edward Island potato field. (Onepony/iStock/Getty Images)

‘Expedited’ potato wart survey helps make case for P.E.I., CFIA says

National survey done 'ahead of schedule'

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 botanist with APHIS’ National Identification Services (NIS) examines the contents of an unsolicited package of seeds under a microscope on July 30, 2020. (Photo courtesy USDA/APHIS)

Unasked-for seed packets considered ‘low-risk’

But don't plant, flush or compost them, CFIA warns

Federal inspectors say the unsolicited packages of seeds that have recently turned up in mailboxes across the country so far look to be “low-risk” — but still advise the public not to plant them. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have both reported […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Low-path H7N3 bird flu believed to have gone high-path in U.S.

High-path H7N3 found in South Carolina turkeys

A low-pathogenicity (“low-path”) strain of H7N3 avian influenza that recently turned up in turkeys in the southeastern U.S. appears to have gone high-path. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Thursday confirmed highly-pathogenic H7N3 avian flu in a commercial turkey flock in Chesterfield County, in northern South Carolina. “It […] Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in Council Bluffs, Iowa on June 11, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Trump simplifies reviews of genetically modified farm products

Council Bluffs | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to streamline the review process for agricultural biotechnology including genetically modified livestock and seeds. Trump signed the order during a visit to an ethanol plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The executive order, he said, would “speed up […] Read more



Drawing of an adult Khapra beetle. (GrainsCanada.gc.ca)

Beetles halt U.S. DDGs exports to Thailand

Chicago | Reuters — Exports of U.S. distillers’ dried grains to Thailand have stopped due to new fumigation requirements installed after beetles were discovered in a shipment last year, U.S. traders said on Friday. Thai government officials said U.S. shipments required certificates showing they had been “properly fumigated.” Traders said sales had effectively been halted […] Read more


Cattle graze at a military base in Florida. (Wirepec/iStock/Getty Images)

Florida finds atypical BSE case

Chicago | Reuters — A six-year-old beef cow in Florida tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday. The animal tested positive for atypical H-type BSE on Aug. 26 at the Colorado State University’s veterinary diagnostic laboratory, as part of routine surveillance of cattle that are found to […] Read more

(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Quarantined Washington wheat negative for GMO

Reuters — No genetically modified (GMO) wheat has been found in a Washington state farm’s crop tested after an unapproved biotech variety was discovered growing there in June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday. The quarantined grain will be allowed to enter the marketplace, USDA said. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service […] Read more