As shipments of canola meal continue to be turned back at the U.S. border, canola growers such as Stan Jeeves are getting more concerned.
The disruption in trade is already hurting prices, he said, and the delivery system may soon start to plug.
“My best guess is it has had an effect of $10 to $12 a tonne on the basis and that’s the cost to producers so far,” Jeeves said from his farm at Wolseley, Sask.
Combined with the potential loss of canola exports to China because of blackleg import restrictions, he added, canola growers are uncertain and apprehensive.
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“It’s pretty urgent to get this resolved as soon as possible, especially with the large volume of crop we have to move this year.”
Jeeves said the agent at his local elevator expects to accept no canola deliveries until the new year.
The problem arose in 2008 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began rejecting shipments of canola meal from Canada because of salmonella contamination.
Since then, six Canadian crushing plants have been subject to an import alert, which allows FDA inspectors to refuse admission of a product with no physical inspection.
The latest incident came in October, when 19 shipments from Cargill’s plant at Clavet, Sask., were rejected.
Cargill spokesperson Robert Meijer said the company has made improvements to the Clavet plant and its crushing processes to deal with the salmonella issue.
“Salmonella is one of those things that are out there and every aspect in the chain needs to do its best to control it, drive it down and try to eliminate it,” he told Reuters News Service. “We’re doing our part and we’re going to be looking to our partners to do their part.”
When contacted for more information, Meijer referred all inquiries to Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA) president Bob Broeska, who could not be reached for comment.
COPA says canola crushing plants are operating at around 73 percent of capacity, compared with 93 percent at the same time last year.
As of Nov. 18, the industry had crushed 1.13 million tonnes of canola in 2009-10, down about eight percent from last year.
A canola industry delegation met with FDA officials in Washington, D.C. , last week to discuss the issue. No public statement was issued.
Humphrey Banack, a farmer from Camrose and president of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, thinks canola meal is caught in a regulatory over-reaction resulting from several U.S. incidents in recent years of salmonella being discovered in human food, such as peanuts.
“The canola meal we move to the U.S. doesn’t go into human food consumption, it goes for feed,” he said.
“It shouldn’t be subject to the same standards.”
It’s unlikely salmonella has suddenly appeared in crushing plants, he added. More likely, tighter testing procedures implemented by the FDA are finding what’s always been present but undetected.
