An international panel convened by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has concluded that most parts of Prince Edward Island outside of what were deemed “Regulated Fields” should be considered free of potato wart (S. Endobioticum). The International Advisory Panel (IAP) on Potato Wart was set up by the CFIA in 2022, as a follow-up… Read More

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board has expressed its shock over the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) decision to suspend all seed potato exports out of P.E.I., and all potato movement from P.E.I. to the U.S., following a ministerial order announced Monday, November 22. Potato wart is a soil-borne fungus that can lay dormant for decades…. Read More

How does a dairy farmer’s kid end up advising Prince Edward Island potato farmers on how best to grow spuds? If you’re Ryan Barrett, you get there by being curious, intelligent, adaptable, and an excellent communicator. Barrett now leads research and agronomy for the PEI Potato Board, and spends much of his time fostering cooperation and… Read More

You can bake them, fry them, roast them, or boil them, sure, but before potatoes make it to your table, this crop requires some serious agronomic knowledge to grow. For this episode of RealAg’s LIVE! stand-in host Kara Oosterhuis is joined by agronomist Ryan Barrett, with the PEI Potato Board. From disease risk, to acidic… Read More

Cool, below normal temperatures in Prince Edward Island have set back the potato harvest for some producers. Ryan Barrett, lead agronomist with the PEI Potato Board says as of Friday, May 25, roughly five to six per cent of the spuds were in the ground. “We are a little bit behind schedule. Normally our main… Read More

On May 21, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned consumers of a possible food tampering situation where needles and nails appeared to be showing up in potatoes, primarily in our Atlantic provinces. And this week, the growing concern of food and farm tampering was on the agenda, as federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers converged… Read More