Food Safety
		Quality Management
		Identity Preservation / Traceability
		Crop Management
		Environmental Stewardship
		Farm Operation, Worker and Public Safety
		Human Resource Management
		Marketplace Awareness and Growth

Most sections in our Codes of Practice are completed and available for grower use. We are still fine-tuning other sections so that the result is a streamlined set of resource materials. These materials provide our customers added assurance that safe and sustainable potato farming takes place in New Brunswick.

Potatoes New Brunswick has worked with and continues to work with several partners in developing and completing the Codes of Practice. For example, we work with McCain Foods Canada, Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods, NB Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, Pest Management Regulatory Agency, Canadian Horticultural Council, Eastern Soil and Water Conservation Center, New Brunswick Agricultural Council (CARD) and others. We are also grateful for the cooperation of our friends in the Prince Edward Island Potato Board, who are working with us in developing integrated pest management guidelines for New Brunswick and PEI’s potato industries. 

For information, we have included a brief summary of each of our Codes of Practice.

Quality Management

Table Potatoes
New Brunswick has instituted a North American “first” with a unique new quality management program for table potatoes, called Canadian Partners in Quality (CPIQ). On September 4th, 2003 the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the government of Canada, and several New Brunswick potato shippers signed the first working agreement which allows CPIQ to become a reality. Potatoes are currently being shipped from several New Brunswick potato shippers and more will soon follow.

Canadian Partners in Quality is a quality assurance program for the preparation of fresh fruit and vegetables consistent with HACCP and ISO principles. The CPIQ program is the result of seven years of industry research and CFIA/industry cooperation and development. Potatoes New Brunswick, representatives from another province, and CFIA officials initiated the development of CPIQ by visiting shippers involved in Florida’s Citrus industry who used a similar program called Partners in Quality.

The current CPIQ program has been revised to meet industry, USDA, and CFIA standards and regulations. CPIQ allows packing sheds and shippers to implement strong quality assurance, record keeping, and traceability. It will also make it much easier to process export certificates. Potato growers who are implementing their on-farm food safety programs will meet the needs of the CPIQ shippers.

The CFIA has the authority under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act to enter into agreements with regulated parties for the purposes of delivering services that fall within its mandate. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has discussed the program with the CFIA in detail and has accepted CPIQ as an acceptable alternative to hands-on inspection. However, each participating packing shed will be audited regularly by CFIA inspection staff to ensure that quality and grade issues are maintained.


Seed Potatoes
NB grows 19,000 acres of seed potatoes, making NB Canada’s largest exporter. Our Codes of Practice documents that our seed potatoes must already meet stringent certification and plant health regulations domestically and internationally. In addition, new requirements are being placed on our industry which will require an increase in post-harvest testing and incorporating full identity preservation systems. 


Processed Potatoes
Processors, Wholesalers, Retailers and quick-service restaurants are demanding higher and higher levels quality, safety and traceability back to individual farms and fields. Our Codes of Practice will provide resources and proofs that we are doing everything possible to meet these standards.

Identity Preservation / Traceability
Superior quality does not automatically mean superior value. Today’s consumer places great value on knowing quality management and traceability are integral parts of New Brunswick’s potato industry. We believe that having superior product is not enough.

Much of our time and energy during the last few years has gone into investigating which operating practices will serve our customers best. After all, “best practices” are the attitudes, approaches, and operating methodologies that put the top players at the head of the pack. New Brunswick’s potato industry has thrived in areas throughout the world because the practices being followed by our producers have resulted in safe quality product. 

Now, we remain very active in formalizing these agricultural practices. Traceability is a logical and necessary part of our Codes of Practice for the New Brunswick Potato Industry. After all, traceability provides an important record linking the complete food chain. An identity preservation system is invaluable in many ways. Customers at all levels prefer to deal with producers who use solid record keeping and traceability systems. 

By following our Codes of Practice, potato industry stakeholders will be able to identify all potato lots throughout the production chain and be able to fully document their identity, genetic purity and management inputs. A fully integrated “track & trace” program will provide proof of lot separation for seed, processing and fresh potatoes.

Our Identity Preservation - Traceability systems include the Canadian Partners in Quality Program, our Field and Storage Record Keeping program “ROWTATER”, our whole farm accounting program based on Settler Gold, and our Digital Imagery information.



Crop Management
The quality and safety of potatoes produced and marketed by New Brunswick is a major focus of attention for our industry and both levels of government. The high-quality, safe potatoes we produce is a direct result of the way we manage our crop. Production of a high yield, high quality and disease free crop involves excellence in all areas of crop management. 

The New Brunswick potato industry is moving quickly to formalize the documentation of all methodologies being used to manage the crop which encompass soil and water management, nutrient management, pest management, rotation crops and storage management. Our growers are committed to providing the “proofs” needed which define a sound management system. 

We are nearing completion of a closely related project, Integrated Crop Management, which we have been developing with the Pest Management Regulatory Agency and potato industry stakeholders from New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. We are using our close geographic proximity to produce a regional program which allows provincial differences. The program should be completed in the next few months and will become part of this important component of our Codes of Practice.



Environmental Stewardship
Like food safety, environmental safety is more important than ever before to our society. 
Sustainability and preservation of land, air, water and wildlife resources are at the forefront of our industry’s strategic planning. For the past five years, we have been involved in a gradual series of related activities which will ensure the success of this industry for many years to come.

Potatoes New Brunswick has had a very active Environment and Food Safety Committee, for several years. The committee has spearheaded several initiatives, one of which is the “Environmental Farm Plan and On Farm Food Safety Project”. We have been involved in grower awareness activities, public awareness activities, development of legislation, revisions to the Environmental Farm Plan Workbook, and a long series of workshops. More recently, we have placed great emphasis on the full completion of Environmental Farm Plans by all NB potato growers. We have also held a series of grower meetings to illustrate the inter-relationship of environmental farm planning, on-farm food safety and record-keeping. 

Approximately 65% of NB potato growers have received their certificates for the completion of their Environmental Farm Plans, and we expect that number to grow to over 90% of growers by spring 2004. At this time, we have estimated that potato farmers who have completed the program have already invested an average of $30,000 on environmental improvements.

Farm Operation, Worker and Public Safety
Field operations and other activities in the New Brunswick potato industry have changed dramatically over the years. The old-fashioned image of workers labouring by picking potatoes in baskets and barrels is no longer the way this industry operates.

Harvesting, planting and other similar activities require large, dangerous equipment. Farms are also larger and have a faster work-pace. With the increased mechanization can come an increase in danger. All of these factors combined mean that unauthorized people should not be around these operations until all work has halted and equipment has been shut down.

To help address the challenges of making people aware of the need for safety minded behavior, Potatoes New Brunswick has developed and uses a number of programs. We supplement these materials with appropriate resources from such people as Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, NB Department of Labour, Farm Credit Corporation and others. 

These programs include:

		A kit which includes Public Safety and Farm Safety materials.
		3'x3' black and yellow signs with "Employees Only" which are posted when fields are being worked for harvest etc.
		A pamphlet explaining the program, which is distributed to the public in all potato growing areas during peak times such as harvest.
		Safety Orientation Checklist for farmer employees and farmers
		Safety demonstrations of harvesters and other large equipment at appropriate times in elementary, middle and high schools.
		Hazard Alert information pieces, such as powered mobile equipment.
		"Guidelines For Potato Growing Safety", a pamphlet which outlines key elements to be aware of in all aspects of potato farming.
		Legislated forms needed for employment of young people.
		Regular safety columns in every issue of .
		In-person presentations several times per year in each of our six districts throughout the province on New Brunswick.

Human Resource Management
Our Codes of Practice for the New Brunswick potato industry has been developed because the stakeholders realize management of all resources is critical to their success. We have developed our Codes of Practice to include key information on the most important areas of production, handling, and shipping. However, human resource management is as important as any other element.

Potato production, storage, handling and processing relies on the latest available technologies, which includes large and efficient equipment. Our industry also requires both permanent and seasonal workers for many phases during the year including planting, roguing, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, grading, packaging, processing and shipping. 

To meet these new requirements, we have obtained materials and are nearing completion of a workbook based on NB guidelines and labour standards. The Carleton Regional Development Commission, in partnership with government departments, has developed an excellent Human Resource Manual. With their permission, we have edited the material slightly to better suit the potato industry and will integrate into the Codes of Practice. 

Related projects also include truck driver skill upgrading, harvest labour hotline and skill improvement for farm accounting and business management. We will use the lessons learned and materials developed from these programs in this section of the Codes of Practice and undertake training and support of these materials for our industry members.

Marketplace Awareness & Growth
As we continue to see a shift away from people who work in primary food production systems, it is important to recognize that a large portion of our society does not understand the complexities and difficulties of producing quality potatoes. Our industry must do its utmost to make the non-farming public aware of all the improvements and positive actions outlined in our Codes of Practice via increased communications and awareness of all consumers and customers. 

The goal of these Codes of Practice is to provide reliable tools to record, measure, manage and support sustainable industry development. This will help increase customer and consumer confidence in NB potatoes and lead to enhanced market access and profitability while preserving our environment for future generations.