Thank you, Wayne.
I want to talk a bit about Cavendish Farms. We're a frozen french fry and appetizer processor located on the east coast with our head office in Dieppe. We have two plants in Prince Edward Island; one in Wheatley, Ontario; one in Lethbridge, Alberta; and one in Jamestown, North Dakota.
We currently produce in excess of 1.3 billion pounds of frozen product and utilize over 2.5 billion pounds of potatoes. Our modern plants are approved by all of the major QSRs, or quick service restaurants, that you can think of, including Wendy's and Burger King. We are one of the largest private-label packers for many of the largest North American retailers, such at Walmart, Sam's, Loblaws, Sobeys, Costco, and so on.
Cavendish Farms, as Wayne said, is a division of J.D. Irving. We're a team of 15,000 dedicated employees. We have been in business since 1881, so more than 133 years.
I would like to give you a little bit of an impact of the kinds of things we do. On Prince Edward Island, for example, we have 780 full-time employees and 130 seasonal employees. We have an annual payroll of over $45 million. We produce over 760 million pounds of frozen product; 1.2 billion pounds of potatoes, which represents 42,000 acres; and we buy from 280 suppliers.
Aside from providing for the U.S. and Canadian marketplaces, we ship our products to more than 50 countries worldwide. My history has always been in the international; after 39 years in the food industry, I've seen both the pros and the cons. One of the things I would like to talk to you guys about is the positives that Canada has instituted in the international but also the negatives. If you give me just a few seconds, I'd like to attest to some of those things.
Cavendish Farms relies on exports and access to foreign markets. Our ability to sustain growth in export markets has been hampered by the lack of free trade agreements. As an example, on May 18, 2010, Central America and the European Union reached a free trade deal between the two regions, and we have suffered because of that. But the one that really hurt us the most was the Central America free trade deal where in 2005 the U.S. got the free trade deal, and Canada had been discussing this one for years prior to the U.S. The day after it went into implementation stage, all our Burger King, Wendy's, KFCs—we lost them overnight. It was that quick. It was because all of a sudden they had a 15% duty advantage.
The same thing has happened again in the Dominican Republic, where the U.S., in January 2010, got a free trade deal implemented and immediately we lost all our business.
Now, having said that, let's talk about the positive side of the FTAs. Canada in 2002 got a free trade deal with Costa Rica. At that point in time, from then to now, our sales have ten times increased. It just goes to show that whenever we can conclude these free trade deals, there are massive positive aspects. The same thing happened in the EFTA, the European free trade agreement, with Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, and so on. In Iceland our sales are up five times what they were.
Having said that, what is it that's required? The Canadian government must make the timely establishment of free trade negotiations a greater priority and ensure a more level playing field for our exports and exporters; revive the Central America countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua negotiations; resume negotiations with the Dominican Republic; and be proactive and aggressive in negotiating and conducting other free trade agreements.
Please conclude the Korea trade agreement as quickly as possible. This area represents ten times what Central America represents.
We're here to answer any of your questions. Thank you.