Pulse crop handlers were fuming mad at new fumigation requirements imposed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last week, but the potentially volatile situation had blown over by Sept. 20.
Exporters went into a tizzy when the federal regulator waylaid 17 containers of peas headed for India that it determined had been improperly fumigated.
India announced earlier this year that it would no longer accept pea shipments from Canada that had not been fumigated with methyl bromide for stem and bulb nematodes.
It was a costly and impractical request that many in the Canadian pulse industry deemed a non-tariff trade barrier.
Read Also
Research looks to control flea beetles with RNAi
A Vancouver agri-tech company wants to give canola growers another weapon in the never-ending battle against flea beetles.
Through an aggressive education and negotiation process during the summer, officials from Pulse Canada and the CFIA convinced Indian authorities to accept a temporary arrangement where fumigation could take place in India until Dec. 31.
The news was a relief to shippers who were about to enter their busy fall season and did not relish losing the top destination for Canadian peas.
Many, however, had already signed contracts with Indian buyers specifying fumigation had to be done at the time of loading.
Western Transloading Corp. had been shipping product that way for eight months until the CFIA began monitoring the technique it and many other west coast handlers were using to fumigate outbound product.
The agency decided the method was substandard and it could no longer issue phytosanitary certificates for the cargo.
“That created huge problems for us and of course when we gave the word out to the shippers and the exporters, it created a monster kerfuffle,” said company president Brian Atkins.
It backed up traffic all the way to the Prairies.
Vicki Dutton, managing partner of Western Grain Cleaning and Processing Ltd., was the shipper who sent the 17 containers. Late last week she was furious with the CFIA.
“It’s going to back up so fast that we’re going to be shut down here in a week,” she said.
“The CFIA is turning it into an internal trade barrier.”
Atkins told her fumigating to the federal regulator’s standard was impractical.
“You’re talking about installing ventilation tubes and fans in a 20-foot container that’s 95 percent full of product,” he said.
Their concerns prompted an Aug. 17 conference call between Pulse Canada and the CFIA.
“You can’t go from 60 miles an hour to zero without having some screaming happening,” said Pulse Canada chief executive Gordon Bacon.
A deal was worked out to release the 17 containers and allow for fumigation in India. It was agreed that future shipments would also be fumigated in India or rerouted to a country like Pakistan that didn’t require the safety measure.
Bacon said the cause of the fumigation confusion is the myriad guidelines found in Canada. Licensed applicators, federal regulators and product labels all have different rules.
“At times some of the guidelines from different agencies have trouble meshing,” he said.
There was also a lack of industry awareness that a deal had been struck with India allowing fumigation to occur at destination.
Dutton was relieved to discover she could fumigate in India, where it is far cheaper.
She is now renegotiating contracts with her clients to reflect that change. But she worries what will happen after Dec. 31, when India reverts to its original plan.
Bacon said Pulse Canada and the CFIA will spend the next few months trying to harmonize fumigation guidelines. But there is also bigger fish to fry.
Canada has committed to stop using methyl bromide on Jan. 1, 2005, because it is considered a dangerous chemical.
As a result, Pulse Canada wants India to consent to the use of a substitute fumigant called phosphine gas. It would also like an extension on the ability to fumigate at destination during the cold winter months when fumigants can’t be effectively applied in Canada.
The ultimate solution is to convince Indian authorities the whole process is unnecessary because the pests they are worried about are not a problem in Canada.
