It’s like a delayed April Fool’s joke.
On April 1, southern Alberta farmer Gerard Oosterhuis took advantage of early spring weather and seeded 93 acres of canola.
Last week the Bow Island farmer got word he’ll have to plow under his healthy crop of canola. It is Limagrain’s Roundup Ready canola and it has been recalled.
“It was a great idea, but it just didn’t work out,” said Oosterhuis, one of two southern Alberta farmers who had already seeded Limagrain’s herbicide tolerant canola.
Last week farmers and seed dealers across the Prairies got official word that Limagrain’s LG 3295 and LG 3315 cannot be grown this year because of a gene mix-up.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
Officials were hoping a second test of LG 3295 would show the variety met Agriculture Canada specifications.
But plant material sent to St. Louis for testing was beginning to develop similar characteristics as earlier tests showing a misplaced gene, said Gary Bauman, Limagrain’s sales and marketing manager.
“It was basically confirming the same results. With LG 3295 we do have another gene showing up in trace amounts and we’ve got to figure out how that might have happened, where that might have happened. We may never find out. We may not have the right initial seed source anywhere within our organization,” said Bauman.
That’s not much comfort for Oosterhuis, who doesn’t think he’ll be able to plant canola in the same field as his lost Limagrain variety.
Outperformed others
He decided to grow the canola because both Limagrain varieties outperformed Alberta Wheat Pool’s Roundup Ready variety, Quest, at local trials and he didn’t want to use other herbicide-tolerant canola requiring costly chemicals.
Despite the hassle, Oosterhuis feels he’ll be well compensated for his troubles.
Representatives from Monsanto, the company that developed the canola seed with the herbicide tolerant gene, asked him to put together a compensation package he thought was fair. They never complained when he gave them a bill.
“The company has been treating me well,” said Oosterhuis.
Bauman said his company will begin talks with other farmers and dealers to hear their concerns over the recalled canola.
While it is recalling the 60,000 bags of Roundup Ready seed, Limagrain will be sending traditional canola varieties as substitutions for some farmers, said Bauman.
Ray Mowling, Monsanto’s vice-president of government and public affairs, said they will be working with dealers and growers to “minimize that impact to their business.”
Groupe Limagrain, Limagrain Canada’s parent company, is the world’s third largest seed company. About 25 percent of Limagrain’s research involves biotechnology.
In 1994, the French company, in partnership with Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation, bought KingAgro, an Ontario seed company. Saskatchewan’s $6 million equity investment in Limagrain Canada Seeds was instrumental in Limagrain’s decision to move to Saskatoon.
In its 1994-95 annual report, the parent company reported the Saskatoon operation has almost doubled its canola sales and now has registered 12 new varieties of canola, including the Roundup Ready variety.
