Fox Island seed farm gives P.E.I. potato growers 'peace of mind' with homegrown supply

They have been growing potatoes here at the Fox Island Seed Potato Farm for more than six decades now. The farm is operated by the PEI Potato Board, giving growers the option of a home-grown supply of seed. It is a grower-owned farm, just like the Potato Board itself is grower-owned. We're growing about 30 different varieties of seed potatoes, and what we're doing is based on demand or requests from the local industry. Not every PEI potato grower sources their seed from Fox Island, but many do. In a given year, between 30 and 40 percent of the commercial potato crop has lineage tracing back to Fox Island here. The seed potatoes start here in the lab, giving them a level of security that is important. All of our seed stock originating from the plant tissue cultures in the laboratory environment, that has been disease tested and disease free. The Potato Board says biosecurity is important to growers, especially after the discovery of potato wart in 2021 closed the U.S. border to PEI potatoes. So we worked even closer with CFIA. Our audits have always been high level. So it just made it that we had to look within and the first place that growers looked within was at the farm. McLennan says the board has a seed committee that helps guide the farm and provides feedback from growers. Honestly, it's peace of mind, because not everyone wants to go off-island to purchase seed, seed from out west or seed from the States. They want to stay here. McLennan says the industry has also struggled in recent years with challenging growing conditions, like last year's drought that reduced the crop by 15% in 2025. We're looking three and four years down the road, so we have to be always looking ahead and looking to modernize what we're doing and make sure we're staying current with industry trends and industry demand. Work that will continue this winter as soon as this year's harvest is safely in storage. Nancy Russell, CBC News, Fox Island.