By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Friday March 25, 2022

Mar 25, 2022 | 11:09 AM

MELFORT, Sask. — A potential clash over hormone-treated Canadian beef is emerging as a sticking point as free trade talks between Canada and Britain formally begin.

U.K. Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan and her Canadian counterpart, Mary Ng, announced the start of talks in Ottawa.

Britain and Canada have already negotiated an interim trade agreement to replace the broader Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that Canada negotiated with the European Union.

Britain’s decision to leave the EU after its Brexit referendum meant that it was forced out of CETA at the end of 2020.

Britain and Canada reached an interim deal that preserved the main elements of CETA, including the elimination of tariffs on 98 per cent of Canadian exports to Britain.

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Prince Edward Island farmers will soon be able to resume exporting potatoes to the United States, months after Canada suspended shipments because of the detection of potato wart in fields on the Island.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a news release stating the two countries have reached an understanding.

The USDA said exports of P.E.I. table-stock potatoes can resume under certain conditions, including potatoes shipped to the U.S. come only from fields not known to be infested with potato wart.

Canada halted the export of potatoes from P.E.I. last November to avoid a U.S. ban, and the continental United States market has been closed to all Island potatoes ever since. Exports to Puerto Rico resumed last month.

The P.E.I. Potato Board has said the island’s potato industry lost more than $25 million before exports to Puerto Rico resumed.

Potato wart is a fungal parasite that spreads through the movement of infected potatoes, soil and equipment, and though it poses no threat to human health, it leaves potatoes disfigured and can decrease crop yields.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW