Canada Hopeful Table Potato Shipments Will Resume in Weeks to Puerto Rico, U.S. Mainland

FILE PHOTO: A farmer sprays a potato field in Park Corner, Prince Edward Island, July 13, 2001. REUTERS/Shaun/File photo Reuters

By Rod Nickel

(Reuters) - Canada is hopeful of resuming shipments of table potatoes from the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI) to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in two weeks, and to the U.S. mainland in the weeks following that, partially resolving a trade dispute, Canadian Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said.

Bibeau met in Washington on Thursday with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, after shipments of PEI fresh potatoes to the United States halted in November over U.S. concerns about potato wart.