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Canadian government helping market potatoes

March 15, 2011, Ottawa,
Ont – The Government of Canada is helping the Canadian Horticultural Council
(CHC) peel open new international markets for our top-quality spuds.

March 15, 2011, Ottawa,
Ont – The Government of Canada is helping the Canadian Horticultural Council
(CHC) peel open new international markets for our top-quality spuds.

Agriculture Minister Gerry
Ritz recently announced an investment of $743,000 to help the CHC increase
exports and improve record-keeping systems for potato growers.

The AgriMarketing program
will deliver an investment of $688,000 to help the CHC undertake international
market development and export promotion activities for the potato sub-sector.
The CHC will develop new promotional materials, participate in trade shows and
international trade missions to showcase these tasty tubers. The CHC will also
develop a long-term international strategy for the greenhouse vegetable
sub-sector.

The CHC will also receive,
through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP), an investment of
$55,000 to help determine the feasibility and the cost to improve farm record
keeping with GPS technology. Better record keeping at the field level will help
assure markets and consumers that Canadian potatoes are grown to the highest
standards.

“This funding provides an
excellent opportunity for producers to showcase the quality of our products
around the world,” said CHC president Andy Vermeulen.

Canada has a long history
of supplying top-quality table potatoes to customers and is widely recognized
as an international leader in seed and fresh potato production. In 2009, Canada
produced an estimated 4.6 million tons of potatoes. In the 2008-09 marketing
year, exports of potato and potato products were valued at an estimated $1.5
billion. Exports of Canadian horticultural products overall reached $3.8
billion in 2009.