P.E.I. potato growers accuse french fry companies of flooding market with cheap spuds

Big french fry companies are undercutting P.E.I. potato prices by flooding the open market with cheap potatoes, says an sland potato farmer and a potato marketer.

Jim Read, of J.B. Read Marketing Inc., and Danny Henricken, whose family has been growing potatoes for over 40 years, told a provincial standing committee on agriculture Thursday about how large-scale potato processors have been buying up surplus potatoes for two or three cents a pound.

Producers grow these surplus potatoes to ensure their crop meets their processing contract needs.

Companies like Cavendish Farms process most of the potatoes they buy into french fries, but they also offer the cheaper surplus potatoes on the open market.

This drives down market prices for tablestock potatoes, such as those sold by the bag in grocery stores. This practice undermines the ability for strictly open-market growers to get a good price for their produce, Hendricken said.