A prominent member of the Alberta seed industry says it’s time for the province to review legislation that places an unmanageable regulatory burden on pedigreed seed growers.
Don Sendziak, past-president of the Alberta Seed Growers Association, said the Agricultural Pests Act places unrealistic expectations on seed growers and imposes unnecessary financial costs on the industry.
“It (the legislation) is hurting the pedigreed seed industry, especially in areas where fusarium … is abundant,” Sendziak said.
“We need to revisit this issue again and make sure that something can be done.”
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The Agricultural Pests Act stipulates that all seed used for propagation must be free of fusarium graminearum, a cereal grain disease that limits yields, reduces grain quality and produces potentially harmful toxins.
Fusarium is already an established disease in many parts of the province. Evidence suggests it may be spreading to new areas in the province’s central and northern grain growing regions.
Sendziak said the province should listen to members of the province’s fusarium action committee and amend the act.
“We were all in favour of opening up the act and establishing realistic tolerance levels, but so far that idea has fallen on deaf ears,” said Sendziak, who represented seed grower interests on the committee.
Pedigreed seed growers in Alberta are required to have their seed tested for the disease. Seed that tests positive must be sold as commercial grain rather than pedigreed seed.
Department officials declined to be interviewed about the act and the likelihood of legislative amendments, but Jeanna Friedley, a communications official with Alberta Agriculture, said in an Oct. 23 email that the disease continues to be found in Alberta.
The agriculture department is revising its fusarium management plan based on recommendations from the fusarium action committee and Alberta’s standing committee on resource stewardship, she added.
Sendziak said the pedigreed seed industry would like to see a more flexible act that recognizes the presence of the disease in some areas and promotes the use of preventive measures and best management practices in areas that are not yet affected.
