Potato farmers on Prince Edward Island feel the impact of losing customers a year after the four-month ban on potato shipments to the United States.

Canada also stopped sending the island's most popular exports to the United States on November 21, 2021, after the discovery of potato wart fungus – a disease that distorts potatoes – in a few fields on the island. The fungal parasite spreads through the movement of infected potatoes, soil, and farm equipment but poses no risk to human health.

Shipments resumed in April after the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the green light for island farmers to resume exports. But for farmers like Andrew Smith – whose property in Newton, Prince Edward Island, produces potatoes for chips – the long-term loss of customers in the United States has had lasting consequences.

Smith also said he lost a contract with a major American company that changed suppliers during the export ban, adding that he is concerned about renewed lobbying efforts from the U.S.-based National Potato Council, which calls for stricter packing requirements for P.E.I.

Similarly, Jordan Dotcherte, who retired from the army with plans to take over the family farm in Elmwood, P.E.I., said in a Monday interview that it is frustrating for Ottawa to take months to allow potato seed shipments from the province to markets elsewhere in Canada. Canada imposed a ban on exporting potato seeds locally at the same time it imposed the U.S. ban.

It was found that the restrictions on exporting PEI's most valuable crop cost the industry more than $50 million in revenue and forced farmers to destroy 250 million pounds of potatoes, according to the Island Potato Board.

Potato seeds, which make up nearly 10 percent of the island's annual production, remain banned from the United States pending the outcome of a more comprehensive review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which may take years to complete.