P.E.I. Burger Love breathes life into the island's potato industry

It’s been a hard few months for potato farmers on Prince Edward Island.

An export ban on island potatoes went into effect in late November after potato wart was detected in two fields.

The disease is harmless to people, but does affect potato yields.

“A lot of potatoes were destroyed needlessly, a lot of stress put on our grower group, so it was a really awful year for our industry,” said Mark Phillips, a spokesperson with the P.E.I. Potato Board. “Thanks to the hard work of a lot of people, things are starting to turn the corner.”

The border has reopened to most potatoes, but not before much of the harvest was wasted.

Islanders stepped up, with some even buying potatoes just to give away -- anything they could do to help.

“Everywhere you turned people were supportive of it,” said Phillips. “It really was a bit of a light in an otherwise quite dark time.”

That’s where P.E.I. Burger Love comes in.

The month-long burger festival started 12 years ago as a way to show off local food and support the island's beef industry.

“Once the border closed in the winter, with the P.E.I. potatoes not being able to be transported to the U.S., we immediately had people reach out to us to ask if we would consider doing a P.E.I. potato love event,” said Melody Drover, president of Fresh Media.

With planning for Burger Love already underway, the festival quickly expanded to include Potato Love as well, throughout the month of May.

Each burger is paired with a potato dish from poutine, to classic loaded fries, to potato salad.

“We also wanted to remind Islanders, as well as visitors to the Island, how important our P.E.I. potato industry is, along with our additional agricultural industry,” said Drover. “Really, when it comes down to it, what pairs better with a P.E.I. Burger Love burger than a P.E.I. potato?“

While farmers are getting a boost at home, cross-border business still isn’t back to normal.

Seed potatoes -- about 10 per cent of the island’s exports -- are still not allowed into the United States.