RED DEER – Pedigreed seed growers want firmer government action to keep
fusarium graminearum out of Alberta.
The cereal fungus is a registered pest in Alberta and seed growers want
the provincial agriculture department to enforce the pest control act
and keep it out of the province.
“This disease would be disastrous for the malt and seed industry,” said
Larry Kitz of Two Hills, the Alberta vice-president of the Canadian
Seed Growers Association.
He told a recent Canadian Wheat Board meeting in Red Deer that if the
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pest act is enforced, trucks carrying Manitoba barley and American corn
into Alberta could be probed and tested for fusarium. Both areas have
the disease.
He said the inspections could be carried out by agriculture field
workers, who are hired by municipalities and responsible for pest
control.
Some feedlots demand disease-free grain, but there are no regulations
saying it must be certified free of fusarium.
“If a feedlot purchases some grain from out of province, it should be
tested before it is even unloaded,” Kitz said.
Farmers buying new seed should ask for certificates that ensure purity,
germination and fusarium-free status.
Kitz said he tests his own seed before sale, but he cannot guarantee
that other seed suppliers do the same.
Alberta has accredited laboratories capable of testing for fusarium.
The government pays for part of the testing, but the program runs out
of money this year and Kitz worries some will stop testing if they have
to pay the whole bill.
“Our concern is that it may just go by the wayside.”
The disease has been detected in minute levels in Alberta since 1995,
and crop researchers and growers hope to buy time until controls are
found.
