Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee. My name is Cameron Prince, I am the vice-president of operations at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Today I will be speaking about potato cyst nematodes, PCNs. There are more than 4,800 species of nematodes that can attack plants. Potato cyst nematodes are specific cyst-forming nematodes that attack a limited range of plants, principally potatoes, which are a very important food crop for Canadians. They can cause extensive damage to host crops, such as potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants.
PCNs do not pose a risk to human health. However, they are a serious risk to the international trade of commodities associated with soil. So every precaution must be taken to prevent their introduction and spread.
These pests are extremely small, infest the soil, and are very difficult to eradicate because they can persist dormant in the soil for several decades. While the land is still usable for most crops, it can be unusable for years for such crops as potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants.
PCNs have been confirmed in 65 countries worldwide, including the United States. They were first discovered in Canada in 1962 in Newfoundland. In Canada, nematodes are present in limited areas of Newfoundland, Vancouver Island, Quebec, and Alberta. The CFIA has national responsibility for the regulatory control of PCNs.
They are considered quarantine pests because their distribution throughout Canada is limited and they can have major economic repercussions and reduce yields by up to 80%. Because they have been in Canada for a long time, they are not considered a new phenomenon here.
As you know, protection from invasive species was one of the points raised in the Auditor General of Canada's recent report. The CFIA welcomes the report and has begun to implement recommendations in order to develop an integrated, effective risk-management strategy for vegetable imports and processed products. As import volumes increase, the CFIA must continually review and assess its scientific, strategic and operational requirements, as well as its information systems in order to keep its plant protection strategies up to date.
Confirmation and validation of PCNs are based on internationally accepted procedures that include physical identification of specimens at the microscopic level by highly trained specialists, followed by DNA analysis. Once PCNs have been detected, control and eradication of them require a combination of approaches over the long term. One such measure is prohibiting the planting of susceptible host plants for 20 to 30 years after a field has been confirmed as infested with the pest, as well as controlling soil movement from that location.
PCNs propagate themselves through the movement of soil associated with potato tubers, agricultural machinery, flower bulbs, other propagation material, and shoes. Because of soil-inhabiting pests, such as PCNs, Canada prohibits the importation of soil and host crops from overseas sources, including potatoes from all countries but the United States.
The CFIA has a surveillance program in place to detect PCNs. Our surveillance and testing strategy has been developed in accordance with international science-based standards. In fiscal year 2008-09, the surveillance program cost $8.6 million out of the CFIA's emergency fund. In total, the CFIA, with the support of Canadian seed potato growers and other stakeholders, tested approximately 44,500 soil samples related to the 2008 surveys. Since 2006, the CFIA has tested approximately 110,000 PCN samples.
On February 6, 2009, the CFIA completed the required testing of all Canada's seed potato fields from the 2008 crop intended for export, including all seed fields in provinces with PCN-regulated areas. PCN was not detected. This indicates strong scientific support for isolated occurrences of PCN in Canada.
On August 15, 2006, the CFIA confirmed the detection of a PCN, the golden nematode, in a 30-acre field on a farm 20 kilometres east of Montreal. The CFIA immediately started an investigation with the participation of the Government of Quebec and industry. Strict quarantine measures were implemented on the affected property to prevent further spread. Extensive root and soil sampling was also conducted. By October 6, 2006, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was able to announce that Canada and the United States had reached an agreement to lift virtually all the temporary U.S. import restrictions that were implemented on certain agricultural products from Quebec after the detection of golden nematode.
The most recent instance of a PCN detection dates back to the 2007 crop of potatoes, when two Alberta farms tested positive for the pest. Seed potatoes produced by the two affected farms were disposed of to prevent any further PCN spread. Subsequent investigation and follow-up testing on PCN-exposed fields has indicated that PCNs are not present in any other fields on the two affected Alberta farms.
I'd now like to talk about the proposed new revised guidelines with the United States. Revised Canada-U.S. PCN guidelines are now in the final stages of review on both sides of the border. These guidelines reflect the recommendations of an independent international science panel. The proposed guidelines harmonize surveillance and regulatory actions to create a level playing field on both sides of the border. This will lead to fewer restrictions on the movement of agricultural products. For example, entire state- and province-wide based controls are now eliminated; suspect finds will not automatically lead to market closures; fields, not farms, will be the focus of regulatory actions; and regulatory action in a field will end after two negative test results from two separate intensive surveys. Industry is currently reviewing these proposals.
Establishing these criteria for regulated areas will allow for more free movement and trade of agricultural products from all production fields located outside the affected areas. Commodities beyond these specified areas would no longer be subject to PCN-related trade restrictions. All potato shipments between the two countries now include a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration confirming that the seed potatoes originated from fields tested and found free of potato cyst nematodes. The new guidelines also call for more extensive field surveys for seed potatoes in both the United States and Canada starting in the 2007 production year.
The CFIA is committed to working with stakeholders to screen for PCNs and to harmonize regulations with the United States to stabilize trade and increase producers' ability to plan in order to minimize repercussions of future discoveries and to enable Canadian potatoes and other targeted products to reach the markets.
Thank you very much for your time today. My CFIA colleagues and I would be pleased to take any questions.