WSPC steps in on bacterial ring rot case

Boss argues that sealed Alberta records should be open

The Washington State Potato Commission is taking on several legal matters in Canada these days.

Last week, WSPC executive director Pat Boss talked about attending a Canadian tribunal to talk about dumping duties being placed on potato growers by British Columbia next year.

The Commission also recently intervened in a lawsuit in Alberta.

"There was an outbreak of bacterial ring rot in Alberta last fall," Boss said. "There was a grower in this area that got contaminated, and he's actually filed a civil suit …"

The grower, A.J. Ochoa, chief executive officer of Ochoa Ag, Unlimited, LLC, said only that the impact bacterial ring rot has had on his business has been "significant." Ring rot has had a financial impact and an impact on potato rotation, he said.

Boss said the WSPC noticed some potatoes that were being shipped to Mexico were being found to have bacterial ring rot. When they traced the source of the seed, it was traced back to Canada, he said.

"We asked the Canadians, 'What is the extent of the bacterial ring rot situation up there? What's going on?'" he said. "Bacterial ring rot is a disease that, once it gets into the potatoes, it causes problems quality-wise. Once it gets on your equipment, in the dirt, on the farm, it's hard to get out."

The WSPC filed a public disclosure request to the Alberta government and Canadian food inspection agency asking for all results of their ring rot investigations last year. In June the government agreed to grant the request, but right after that, potato growers of Alberta filed a lawsuit asking that all records be sealed, and got a temporary injunction stating that records should be sealed. Boss said that the growers claim there is information in the records that could be damaging, and that it's in Canada's best interest to seal the records.

"Our position is, that's wrong," Boss said. "If there's a quarantine, a food safety issue or a pest issue, those should be public documents and our growers have the right to see who has bacterial ring rot in Canada and who doesn't. For them to try to cover up records that may help our growers make better purchasing decisions with their seed, we have a problem with that."

"What I would like to see happen is the records being given to the WSPC so the Columbia Basin growers and Washington and Idaho growers in the U.S. can know if there is a problem in Canada," Ochoa said. "I would not want any other potato grower in the industry to go through the significant impact that Ochoa has gone through."

Boss said the WSPC intervened in the case on behalf of the Canadian government, and recently cross-examined witnesses in a courtroom. The concern is that the issue will set a precedent.

"If a grower group in Canada can go to their government and say that (they) want records sealed, what's to say that there couldn't be another, bigger issue that comes up in Canada, like the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy)?" Boss asked. "What's to say the cattle growers of Alberta couldn't go to their government and say, 'Seal the records'? It doesn't matter if it's potatoes, cattle or apples, the records should be public and we should know what happened up there."