On his west-central Saskatchewan farm, Art Walde has planted barley
almost every spring for the past 45 years. This year he is “cutting it
way back,” partly because of fusarium head blight and its effect on the
Alberta feed grain market.
Walde, who is provincial vice-president of the Western Barley Growers
Association, doesn’t have the disease on his farm.
Located far from Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan where the disease is
causing havoc with cereal producers, it is unlikely he will have a
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fusarium problem soon.
Nonetheless, he’s concerned the disease will affect markets.
“If Alberta completely bans fusarium (in cereal grains entering that
province) then it is going to hurt the market for feed barley. At the
very least make it really unstable. You can’t plan for unstable,” he
said.
Fusarium moulds produce mycotoxins including one called vomitoxin. If
this toxin exceeds a certain level, it causes livestock to reduce their
feed consumption and may result in weakened immune systems. Many barley
maltsters have a zero tolerance for the fungus.
The Alberta government is considering a ban on all fusarium
contaminated feed grain that enters the province.
Walde is a malt barley grower, but if his barley isn’t accepted by
maltsters, he sells it into the feed market at Brooks, Alta., 220
kilometres away.
“We’ve had good luck moving our barley there. If we had to test it all
(for fusarium) first, compete with American corn … work with feeders
that were in trouble from paying high feed bills – I’m not so sure,” he
said.
He said Alberta must “be careful not to wreck the livestock industry
for Alberta or Canada.
“If we can’t ship grain to Alberta then they may have to replace some
of that feeding capacity (in Alberta) with feedlots and hog barns to
the east of the border. Near our place for instance.”
Walde said Alberta feed grain producers wouldn’t benefit from the
isolation of their marketplace. The livestock feeding industry would be
forced to move to “places where the feed was competitively priced and
supply was certain. There’s already a feed shortfall in Alberta.”
American cattle now being finished and slaughtered in Alberta could
also be affected if feed supplies were destabilized due to a partial or
complete ban on fusarium infected grains.
“I understand what the Alberta growers are going through and I can’t
fault them for not wanting the disease. They just have to be careful
about the cure,” he said.
