Officials at Brett-Young Seeds are perplexed that one of their Roundup Ready canola varieties appears to be dying when sprayed with herbicide.
But at least one farmer thinks the answer is obvious – the herbicide-tolerant crop isn’t all that tolerant.
The company has received numerous complaints that its Libred 799 canola is not performing the way it should. Officials have visited at least 30 affected fields in northeastern Alberta, where the problem is most common, but have no explanation for what is happening.
Harley House, Brett-Young’s western Canadian marketing manager, is pretty sure it’s not a seed issue because the problem isn’t related to one specific seed lot and severity of the damage varies considerably.
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The company believes an environmental factor, such as bugs, disease or poor seed bed conditions, is killing the crop.
But an Alberta farmer who asked not to be identified said that is not his experience.
He planted 280 acres of Libred 799 this spring. One quarter has already been reseeded to barley and the other quarter is 60 percent dead.
The producer has taken aerial photographs of his sick crop, hired consultants and spoken to crop experts on the matter.
“All roads are leading to non-tolerance to Roundup,” he said.
The best proof he has of that assertion is that a different type of Roundup Ready canola in an adjacent field is growing just fine.
“The Svalof (Weibull) variety – the dog can walk on it. And the other one – there’s nothing there.”
He estimates the Libred problem is going to cost him $60,000 to $80,000, which is something he can ill afford.
“This is an extreme hardship on me, I’m telling you. We’re talking 280 acres after a year, last year, where we lost everything.”
And things may get worse.
“Who knows what the survival rate of a second spraying will be.”
JoAnne Buth, vice-president of crop production with the Canola Council of Canada, said Brett-Young is handling the problem responsibly. But in this case, the answers are hard to come by.
“There doesn’t seem to be any clear pattern that they’ve been able to find,” said Buth.
“We’re bamboozled as well in terms of what’s happening out there.”
Her best guess is that the damage is being caused by a combination of seed problems and environmental factors.
One possible contributing factor is that the conditions this spring were ideal for herbicide uptake. That leads to good weed control but it can also damage canola plants. It’s why some herbicide injury was reported with all HT systems this year, said Buth.
Brett-Young hasn’t decided whether it will compensate farmers. The company hopes to make an announcement in the next few weeks.
