New Zealand’s good intentions may strangle the quick development of Canadian oat, barley and wheat crops, a prominent researcher says.
The South Pacific nation’s move to block the import of cereal crops containing common prairie soil bacteria could stop Canadian researchers from using its summers to leapfrog the Canadian winter.
“At the very least, it would be the imposition of another level of difficulty for us,” said cereal variety developer Brian Rossnagel.
Unbeknownst to the Canadian seed development industry, New Zealand has developed new phytosanitary rules that attempt to ensure foreign plant diseases are not imported into the country.
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One problem for the Canadian industry is that a number of bacteria that live in prairie soil are on the list, so banning them could stop many Canadian seed lots from being accepted. This is frustrating, Rossnagel said in an interview during the Prairie Oats Growers Association annual meeting, because the bacteria are harmless.
As well, most Canadian researchers believe the bacteria already exist in New Zealand soil.
“If it was a legitimate concern, we wouldn’t complain about it,” Rossnagel said. “But when it’s a spurious thing, it’s very frustrating.”
The New Zealand regulations also ban wheat streak mosaic, a rare but present viral disease in Western Canada.
If the new regulations are not changed, breeders will be forced to have their laboratories and fields certified as disease-free.
“It would be additional cost and complication,” Rossnagel said.
As well, some breeding may become impossible if zero tolerance levels are set for the listed diseases.
Canadian seed developers use southern hemisphere growing plots in the winter so that each calendar year can produce two crops instead of the usual one. Rossnagel said that reduces the variety development time to seven years from 10.
Canadian variety developers are hoping the regulations will be relaxed because their consequences were unintended.
The New Zealanders who own laboratory nurseries in that country also stand to lose a lot of business if customers from Canada, the United States and Europe aren’t allowed to do development work there.
