Potato Harvest

The unusual trucks have been around for weeks now, the potato harvest is almost over. The potatoes, their plants wilted from sprayed chemicals, waited in the fields for their turn with the harvesting crew. We can only imagine how much other chemical was sprayed on them during the growing season. This annual production brings in over one billion dollars to Prince Edward Island's economy, a huge amount in a province with only one hundred and forty thousand people.

                       Potato trucks

The total potato production is grown by two hundred and fifty farms. The result is potatoes for the dinner table, seed, or processed by companies such as McCains or Cavendish. While the McCains plant in Baddeck just closed, Cavendish is holding on to its New Annan plant which works around the clock.

Meanwhile the potato trucks were on the roads again, transporting their valuable cargo to the warehouses which hold millions of kilograms of the starchy dietary staples. We have certainly eaten our share of them over the years, such as crispy skinned baked potatoes, drizzled with butter. 

                      Potato warehouse

It is tragic that there are so many chemicals involved in the production of such an important part of our diet. Industralized farming has taken us from the days of seaweed, manure and weeding to chemical spraying. Sometimes the old ways are the best.