Crop Production Week kicked off with the revelation that the contamination of Canada’s flax supply with a deregistered genetically modified variety goes back to the breeder seed level.
In the first session of the week-long conference, David Sefton, director of the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission, told growers that two varieties from the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre had tested positive for trace amounts of CDC Triffid, the GM flax variety that has sabotaged trade with Europe.
CDC Mons and CDC Normandy tested positive at the 0.01 percent tolerance level established in the trade protocol signed between Canada and the European Union.
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“The industry is asking CDC to help us get those two varieties removed from the system,” said Sefton.
Viterra flax merchandiser Quinton Stewart said the infected breeder seed is “definitely a possible source” of a contamination incident that the Flax Council of Canada estimates has cost the industry tens of millions of dollars.
But the exact cause will likely never be pinpointed.
Dorothy Murrell, managing director of the CDC, has her doubts. She said a flax harvest survey conducted by the Canadian Grain Commission indicates the two varieties comprised about 0.2 percent of 2008 flax acres.
“It’s very, very low, so in my mind you can’t draw a straight line from one to the other,” she said.
The source of contamination wasn’t the only thing on the minds of producers. During the 15 minute question and answer session, Gregor Beck, another director of SaskFlax, chastised grain companies and the Flax Council of Canada for their tardy response to reports of contamination.
In a conversation with Genetic ID, the European lab that first identified the problem, he discovered that Canadian officials were aware of the incident by early April, yet the first public acknowledgement by the council was Sept. 2.
Beck wondered why the industry didn’t take immediate steps.
“Why wasn’t testing done right there and then on cargoes going over there?”
Stewart said they had the Canadian supply tested by two labs, one of which was Genetic ID.
The second lab, which he refused to identify, determined the source of contamination was GM canola not GM flax. It was later determined that the lab had made an error by including dockage in the samples it had analyzed. The dockage contained GM canola.
The lab error slowed Canada’s response, as did the development of an appropriate test for Triffid.
“Prior to that, it wouldn’t have been right to release that information because we didn’t have a true feel of what the exact problem was,” said Stewart.
Another bone of contention for growers is the grain industry’s insistence that the 2010 crop be planted with certified seed tested to be free of Triffid.
“I don’t see how that same seed system, which was the ultimate source of contamination, can be offered up as the solution,” Terry Boehm, president of the National Farmers Union, said in a separate interview.
“Tested farm-saved seed is every bit as good as tested certified seed.”
Sefton and Murrell strongly urged growers to test whatever seed they decide to plant in order to restore trade with Europe.
Stewart said trade isn’t completely dead. Statistics from the Port of Thunder Bay show that 89,000 tonnes of the 2009-10 flax crop moved to Europe through the end of December compared to the three-year average of 280,000 tonnes.
He thinks 230,000 to 260,000 tonnes will move to Europe by the end of the crop year. Another 200,000 tonnes should be exported to China and 175,000 to 200,000 tonnes to the United States.
Stewart anticipates 300,000 tonnes of carryout, which is substantially lower than the 500,000 tonnes forecast by Agriculture Canada.
