Good morning, and welcome, especially those who haven't been to P.E.I. before.
My name is Greg Donald. I'm general manager of the P.E.I. Potato Board. The Potato Board is a potato grower organization here in P.E.I. We also represent the dealers and exporters on the island.
I'd like to first hit on the key points relative to this agreement, and those would be that we support the TPP. We certainly support opportunities with countries where we can remove tariffs, level the playing field, and generate opportunities for all sectors, in particular our processing sector, but also for fresh and seed potatoes as well.
I'd also like to highlight that a very important component of the TPP is inclusion of provisions to deal with phytosanitary issues and concerns. That's very important. I know there are examples of trade agreements in the past where, in particular with potatoes, those haven't been addressed. It's very important that this provision has been identified and is going to be there. I'd also raise the issue that we need adequate resources within the CFIA, within the plant health division, to deal with that
I would also point out that we've seen another agreement where issues have come up with tariff rate quotas. Hopefully that's not something that is involved with this agreement.
The last point would be the continuing need for investment in agricultural research, particularly potatoes, and in breeding to better meet the needs of the countries where there are opportunities. Those are the main issues.
This is a little about our industry and the board. The potato industry is the backbone of the economy here in P.E.I. It contributes over $1 billion either directly or indirectly to the economy here, so it's important to us. We have about 200 family farms. We all, and certainly I have had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world. They are small family farms, not industrial farms. I'm not really sure what the definition of that is, but they are small family farms here in P.E.I. We produce about 2.5 billion pounds of potatoes, which is about 25% of Canadian production. About 60% of our crop goes to processing for french fries, potato chips, and other processed products, 30% for the fresh or table market, and 10% for seed.
For P.E.I.'s total agricultural exports, we have numbers in 2014-15 of about $345 million. Of that total export in dollars, 85% is from potatoes. That's both fresh and processed potatoes, so it's very significant. In the last year, we shipped seed potatoes to eight countries around the world, fresh potatoes to 15 to 20 countries, and processed potatoes to close to 40 countries. Similarly with many other products, the U.S. is by far our largest trading partner of that. Of that, $296 million, 81% of it is to the U.S. There's obviously a relationship with them, and that business is very important to us. Having said that, like any business, it's important that we continue to open doors and grow. Unfortunately, doors continue to close, so it's important to diversity our markets and look for opportunities for growth. That's very important, and we believe that TPP offers that opportunity.
Those are the main things that I wanted to touch on. Again, to summarize the points of interest, the tariffs and the phytosanitary issues are very important, that we have the resources to accomplish that, and furthermore, continued investment in programs like Growing Forward to support good research and development of things like new potato varieties.
Thank you very much.