No small potatoes: Canada reaches deal to ship fresh spuds to Mexico

The benefit to Alberta from agreements between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Mexico remains unclear. CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg reports.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has reached an agreement to ship potatoes to Mexico.

The new agreement, announced last week, was made with Mexico’s Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA) and it will allow shipments of fresh Canadian spuds to be used for consumption or processing in Mexico. Canada already exports frozen potatoes to Mexico.

“Increasing interest in Canadian goods, both domestically and internationally, reflects the exceptional standards upheld by our agricultural sector,” Heath MacDonald, minister of agriculture and agri-food, said in a statement last Thursday.

The agreement follows a recent trade visit in February and a trade mission to Mexico last October, where both countries agreed to cooperate under the Canada-Mexico 2025-2028 Action Plan and establish commercial ties.

Mexico currently relies on the United States for its potato supplies.

Ray Kennan, with Rollo Bay Holdings in Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) was part of the delegation that travelled to Mexico.

“We are told it is similar to what the U.S. people have with the exception we’ll be entering by water on the gulf side compared to the U.S. potatoes going in by land on the northern border,” Kennan told CTV News on Tuesday.

Alberta leads the country in potato production

Alberta leads the country in potato production, making about 27 per cent of Canada’s total taters last year. Manitoba is second with about 21 per cent and P.E.I. is third with about 17 per cent.

The Little Potato Company, a business that started in Edmonton and has expanded across Canada and the U.S., is in its 30th year of operation. It has been selling potatoes to Mexico through its U.S. facilities for the past three years.

“Slowly but surely, it’s catching on,” The Little Potato Company executive vice president of sales, marketing and product development Sanford Gleddie told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

Gleddie says shipping spuds to world markets is not straightforward, and he views the new agreement for market access as a “really good step in the right direction.”

“It’s good to diversify our markets and really further encourage trade amongst our neighbouring countries here – Canada, U.S. and Mexico,” he said, adding that Alberta has evolved over the past decade to become the top tater producer in Canada, driven by the demand for French fried potatoes, potatoes for processing and chip potatoes.

“Southern Alberta is one of the best growing regions in the world in terms of getting high quality and high yield, so all the processors are aware of that and they’ve been building plants in southern Alberta,” Gleddie said.

The Little Potato Company has a facility in Edmonton, south of Nisku, and it grows potatoes in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and P.E.I. in Canada, and south of the border in Wisconsin.

Gleddie says he is “very optimistic” about the future of the potato industry.

“Anything we do in North America that keeps trade open, especially in food products, is good for everybody,” he said.

The Potato Growers of Alberta sent a statement to CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday, saying that while “any movement between CFIA and SENASICA is positive”, they are still awaiting details of a new workplan and the impact on Alberta growers is unclear at the moment.

The CFIA says it will be working with the potato sector on next steps.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg