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| Prince Edward Island Potato Board |
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| Just as connoisseurs of fine wine say they can taste the soil in which the grapes are grown, the Prince Edward Island potato has a flavour that is unique because of the Island's rich red soil. If you could visualize the perfect place for growing potatoes, it would be Prince Edward Island. The Island's rich sandy soil, clean air and water, and its long cold winters that naturally cleanse the soil, provide the perfect environment for growing high quality potatoes. In addition, experience and adaptation of the latest growing, storing and shipping techniques have given Prince Edward Island growers the ability to deliver excellent quality potatoes. P.E.I. farmers have been producing potatoes for the world since 1790. Today, potatoes are P.E.I.'s primary cash crop. Last season, almost 620 Island farmers harvested approximately 110,000 acres of potatoes with an average yield of 260 hundredweight per acre. The total production for the 1999 crop was approximately 28,600,000 hundredweight (1 hundredweight (cwt.) = 100lbs.). That works out to 209,000 lbs. per Prince Edward Islander or 950 lbs per Canadian. Prince Edward Island enjoys the reputation as Canada's leading potato province, responsible for almost one-third of Canadian production. Prince Edward Island potatoes are grown for three specific market segments: seed, table potatoes, and processing. Seed potatoes are sold to commercial potato growers and home gardeners to produce next year's crop table potatoes in the retail and food service sectors and processing potatoes are manufactured into French fries, potato chips, and other processed potato products. Almost 50% of the potatoes grown on P.E.I. are used by the processing industry. Most are processed into frozen potato products, which are available across Canada and are also exported to close to 30 countries around the world. The two world-class French fry processors in the province are Cavendish Farms and McCain Foods. Frozen potato products from P.E.I. are available across Canada and are also exported. A company called Small Fry Snack Foods Ltd. produces potato chips which are distributed in Eastern Canada and in select export markets. A new state-of-the-art dehydration plant, owned by AgraWest Ltd., will produce potato granules for further processing into many additional products. In addition to the important Canadian market, seed and table potatoes are shipped to over 20 countries annually. Some recent customers are located in countries as diverse as Venezuela, Italy, Ukraine, Portugal, and Thailand. While markets vary from year to year, over the past few years about 50% of our table potatoes have been sold in Canada, 20% have been marketed in the United States, and approximately 30% are sold to other countries. |
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| Prince Edward Island Potato Board |
| Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island |
| Canada |
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