It’s unlikely that Alberta’s farmers will be able to keep fusarium graminearum out of their fields, but they might be able to do the next best thing — get it removed from Alberta’s Agricultural Pest Act.
After several years of deliberation, the Alberta government is considering removing fusarium from the Agricultural Pest Act, which would clear the way for a new province-wide policy on fusarium management.
Although no decisions have been made, the province is soliciting feedback on the issue from selected farm groups, including provincial agriculture commissions, commodity associations and other industry organizations.
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Members of the selected organizations have been asked to complete an online survey on fusarium graminearum before Jan. 18.
The survey is aimed at collecting information and gauging growers’ views about fusarium management.
“We have launched a survey to gather information from producers and their associations about fusarium and its management in Alberta,” says a Jan. 2 email sent to The Western Producer from Alberta Agriculture.
“The department’s partners in surveillance, including agricultural fieldmen, agricultural service boards, and seed testing labs, have also been included in the target audience. As this is a large and diverse stakeholder base, we have distributed the survey through association and organization representatives.”
The email says the Alberta government will use the survey “to gain a better understanding of what industry needs, today and in the future, so that (the province) can determine how best to support producers, not just through any potential future regulatory changes, but through a much larger collaborative management strategy.”
Timelines for the development and implementation of that strategy have not been determined.
Until now, the Alberta government has shown little interest in removing fusarium from the Agricultural Pest Act.
As it stands, the act makes it illegal to “acquire, sell, distribute or use any seed” that contains fusarium, a regulated pest.
The Alberta Seed Growers Association says the province’s zero-tolerance policy toward fusarium no longer reflects reality.
In an online letter to its members, the association says fusarium graminearum has now spread throughout the province.
As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to acquire disease-free seed for some crop types, including wheat, durum and corn.
The ASGA says fusarium should be removed from the act, which would allow the province to take a more proactive approach in managing and mitigating the disease.
“Removing a serious pest from the Pest Act may seem counterintuitive when the overarching goal is to mitigate the effects of the disease,” states a December 2017 document prepared by Alberta’s Ad-Hoc Fusarium Working Group, whose membership includes the ASGA.
“However, the zero-tolerance policy was implemented when fusarium was not present in Alberta. With its spread, the zero-tolerance policy no longer reflects reality.”
The ASGA has been debating the relevance of the province’s zero-tolerance policy toward fusarium for several years.
Some members see the policy as a significant liability for the pedigreed seed industry.
Fusarium graminearum is now established throughout Alberta and is commonly detected on commercial grain stocks as well as pedigreed seed supplies, albeit in miniscule amounts.
ASGA members are concerned that they could be held liable for importing, selling and distributing seed that contains even minuscule traces of the disease.
“As part of the FHB working group, the Alberta Seed Growers have recommended the removal of fusarium from the Alberta Agricultural Pest Act,” the ASGA states on its website.
“This endorsement has been made to tackle this issue head-on by promoting increased awareness, greater access to best management practices, and surveillance.”
The association also argues that maintaining a zero-tolerance policy discourages work that could mitigate financial losses caused by the disease.
The association suggests that:
- Current regulations can complicate efforts to bring new crop varieties into Alberta that have better tolerance to the disease because much of the seed may contain low levels of the prohibited pathogen.
- The practice of heat treating breeder seed to destroy the pathogen on new seed varieties is costly, time consuming and may adversely affect seed quality.
- In-field research aimed at controlling or managing fusarium is virtually non-existent in Alberta because fusarium graminearum is prohibited in the province.
- A control strategy that focuses exclusively on eliminating seed-borne pathogens detracts from efforts to develop and promote a multi-pronged control strategy, especially because fusarium is frequently spread via air-borne spores.
(Editor’s note: This link has now been updated.) The online fusarium survey can be found here
The deadline to submit survey responses is Jan 18.
