An executive at the world’s largest canola company says an unfortunate consequence of developing clubroot resistant varieties is that growers have come to depend on them too much.
Garth Hodges, vice-president of marketing and business development with Bayer CropScience, told delegates attending the Canola Industry Meeting that those varieties have given growers a false sense of security.
“In a sense, it was unfortunate that we did have clubroot resistant hybrids because I get the sense growers are depending on it and thinking, ‘well, I don’t have to worry about it because I have a solution,’ ” he said.
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Hodges stressed that resistant varieties are not a solution. Farmers still need to employ best management practices such as sticking to a one-in-four-year rotation.
“My concern is all of the other things that growers should be doing to manage this disease, they’re kind of putting aside.”
Hodges said clubroot is going to be one of the biggest challenges facing the canola industry. The affected area is small right now, but it will expand because the disease has many races and rapidly overcomes resistance genes.
Volunteers are the biggest threat.
“We think we have a rotation, but if there is volunteers, then there is no rotation. It will just perpetuate,” he said.
“These (resistant) genes segregate in the volunteers, and those volunteers may either have no resistant genes or some.”
Hodges talked about a number of “storm clouds” hovering around the canola sector.
One thing keeping him awake at night is Volkswagen’s recent an-nouncement that it is done making diesel engines for the U.S. market because of increasingly stringent emissions regulations. Instead, it will focus on making electric and hybrid cars.
As well, Reuters reports that Renault expects to stop putting diesel engines in its European cars because of the escalating costs of meeting tighter emissions standards following the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal.
The thought of diesel engines disappearing in Europe makes Hodges shudder because 80 to 90 percent of Europe’s rapeseed crop goes to the biodiesel market.
“Can you imagine if all of that hit the food market because it is no longer needed for biodiesel?” he said.
Another threat is the industry’s inability to understand politics and the power of consumer opinion.
Hodges said seed technology companies such as Bayer did a poor job explaining genetic modification and need to learn to better frame messages regarding new technologies such as CRISPR and targeted mutagenesis.
As well, they need to cling to science-based regulatory systems such as the one used in Canada. That is one of the reasons Bayer has invested so heavily in the country’s canola sector, owning slightly more than half the market.
Hodges said pitching an investment proposal to Bayer’s board of directors is a lot like being on CBC’s Dragons’ Den. Company officials have about 10 minutes to sell the idea and are vying for available funds with many other facets of the business, such as the pharmaceutical side.
The directors of the German multinational are familiar with Canada, but he often has to explain what canola is and why it is worthy of further investment. One of his justifications is Canada’s science-based regulatory environment.
“Don’t underestimate the value that there is in sound science,” he said.
