The Canadian Grain Commission is considering the merits of offering expanded services to farmers, particularly in the areas of vomitoxin testing, falling number testing and binding dispute arbitration in cases where growers feel that grain prices have been unfairly discounted.
Anthony Rowan, the commission’s program manager for national inspector training and development, said the CGC has already discussed the possibility of expanding its Subject to Inspector’s Grade and Dockage service to include DON testing and falling number assessments, although no formal decisions have been made.
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“Last year, it was an anomaly to have that much toxicity and fusarium in our harvested grain,” Rowan said. “But what last year did was ex-pose some gaps, some issues, that came to the forefront due to the scope of the (grain quality) problem.
“What’s the grain commission’s role? We need to bridge those gaps to make sure that in terms of producer protection, that we can provide an impartial determination of DON and … help producers to address any issues that might occur in the driveway or with crop insurance.”
Western Canadian grain farmers have encountered more marketing problems than ever during the 2016-17 crop year because of misunderstandings about the relationship between fusarium and grain toxicity caused by vomitoxin, also known as deoxynivalenol (DON).
Not only has the unusually high incidence and severity of DON in this year’s cereal grain harvest exposed a lack of producer understanding about it, the situation has also exposed a gap in services available to farmers.
Rowan said growers need access to a process that can accurately and affordably measure grain toxicity.
That information could be used to settle marketing disputes between growers and grain buyers.
“We need to make sure that the industry — the system — has some kind of binding arbitration or independent testing so that a producer can resolve a marketing issue,” he said.
“Right now, producers don’t have binding arbitration. They rely solely on the results from the primary facility.… Our job is to look at a process that would close those gaps for producers.”
Export contracts that are negotiated between grain companies and foreign buyers of Canadian grain normally specify acceptable levels for DON and falling number.
Those export specifications vary from country to country, buyer to buyer and region to region, with the tightest specs typically demanded by countries such as Europe and Japan.
In Canada, many domestic delivery contracts that are signed by grain producers also contain language that outlines acceptable DON levels.
However, in some cases, growers are either unaware of the domestic contract specs or have an incomplete understanding of discounts that will be applied if DON levels exceed those specs.
Variability in DON test results is another area of concern.
DON tests can be conducted fairly quickly, but testing methods and results can vary from location to location. Inaccurate sampling methods can also skew results.
For that reason, the grain commission is looking carefully at services that could be offered to growers who have had grain deliveries discounted or have been told that their grain will not be purchased because it doesn’t meet contract specs.
“Subject to Inspectors Grade and Dockage service may be an avenue to address these issues,” said Rowan.
“Subject to Inspectors Grade and Dockage may in fact, in the future, encompass DON testing.… I can’t say definitively if that will happen, but currently, if a producer feels they are having trouble with grade, dockage, protein, or moisture … the Subject to Inspector’s Grade and Dockage service is certainly the tool or the mechanism that is used today.
“There have been suggestions that … it would be nice if that service also encompassed some of the contractual parameters that have been applied to producers, particularly DON and falling number.”
