WHEN federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz this week mandated an earlier end to kernel visual distinguishability, he needlessly injected uncertainty into the grain industry and into the marketplace.
The grain industry is aware of the problems presented by KVD and agrees with Ritz on the need for an alternative. But industry consensus was that an alternative system couldn’t be developed before 2010 and even that was considered ambitious.
The Industry Committee on the Removal of KVD, made up of grain handlers, producers and the Canadian Wheat Board, agreed last year, after months of study, that finding a replacement before August 2010 wasn’t possible.
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Yet Ritz now says he would like the system removed by Aug. 1, 2008.
KVD rules require that new wheat presented for registration be visually distinct from the major classes of wheat already on the market. The rules are designed to protect the purity of Canada’s major wheat classes.
The problem is that new wheat varieties that could benefit farmers through better disease resistance, higher yields or drought tolerance, for example, have been rejected for registration because they appear too similar to established classes.
Few argue with the need to find a better method. However, Canada must protect its quality assurance system if it is to maintain its position in the international marketplace.
Feed wheat with stronger fusarium resistance or higher yielding winter wheat more suitable for ethanol are highly desirable.
However, mixing those varieties with wheat from established food classes could downgrade the wheat’s value and diminish Canada’s reputation as a top quality supplier.
According to the Western Grain Elevator Association, which represents grain handlers across the West, losses caused by commingling could reach more than $1 million per shipload. Loss of buyer confidence might bring more long-term costs.
There is already a plan to eliminate KVD for minor wheat classes by Aug. 1, 2008. It was hoped that would serve as a roadmap through 2010 for changing the system on a wider scale.
The challenges of change are many: a farmer affidavit system, the most likely short-term solution, requires changes to the Canada Grain Act to penalize those who misidentify grain.
An affidavit system also holds farmers liable through every point in the grain delivery system all the way to port.
With KVD, grain elevator employees inspect the grain at delivery.
There is workable technology for another alternative in the pipeline, but DNA testing at the point of delivery is now prohibitively expensive.
Ritz’s insistence that the industry push ahead presents unwelcome and unnecessary risk. The industry was already addressing the problem in a careful way but now it is under extreme pressure.
Unless something unexpected and miraculous appears, the 2010 plan remains the best course of action.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen, D’Arce McMillan and Ken Zacharias collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
