LETHBRIDGE – Western Canadian farmers must ensure seed and crop protection choices don’t jeopardize canola markets, says a Canola Council of Canada agronomist.
“We’re finally going to be to the point in the next year where we can hopefully ship raw seed into the European Union, for the first time in over 10 years, since we started growing the genetically modified canolas,” Matt Stanford told the recent Agronomy Update in Lethbridge.
“We want to make sure we’re not going to compromise our export markets.”
Stanford said the experience of other exporters are illustrative of how much mistakes can cost. In 2003, France sent a shipment of canola to Japan that included an unregistered stored-canola insecticide, comparable to malathion. Since then, Japan has done little business with France.
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“In the spring of 2006, Australia sent a load of canola to Japan with residues of an unregistered foliar insecticide in it. What happened was either one farmer or a small group in Australia sprayed their canola crop with this unregistered insecticide, in crop,” Stanford said.
“Japan picked up on it. It was only found in part of the ship’s hold, so most of the shipment was allowed into the country. But they did have to segregate part of the load out. That part of the load was destroyed at Australia’s expense and currently Australia and Japan are not doing business in the canola market.”
He said the mistake cost $11 million.
Canada cannot allow a similar mistake to disrupt what could become a premium market in Europe or established markets in Asia.
One concern involves varieties no longer registered in Canada, particularly those based on transgenic breeding “events” that are no longer commercially used.
“Some of the older Liberty Link events have been decommercialized and they haven’t been registered in new markets like the European Union. If the European Union tests for these events, picks up on a shipment of raw seed (with any in it), it’s a non-tariff trade barrier and they’ll shut us down. So we want to make sure we’re not doing things that will compromise that,” Stanford said.
“The old bromoxynil-type canolas were decommercialized in 2001, but there still are a few people growing these, and Hysyn 101, the Roundup Ready polish. If Japan picks up on that, they’re going to shut the doors on us. We really want to make sure we’re not growing decommercialized varieties.”
Stanford said the canola council will help farmers sell seed from decommercialized varieties in a way that keeps it out of export markets.
“We want to make sure this seed doesn’t leave the country,” he said.
“We want to keep it domestic so it doesn’t get mixed in with a shipment going to another country. Definitely don’t ship it to an ADM crushing facility because it may go into the U.S.”
Stanford urged producers not to use malathion for grain insect control when storing canola.
“You can’t use it for an empty bin treatment before you put it in and you can’t mix malathion into the grain as you’re augering it into the bin. The canola can absorb chemicals like malathion into the seed, which compromises the quality of the oil,” he said.
“If you’re going to be storing canola, make sure you have no bone meal or blood meal in the bins. If you are looking for something that can be used for a stored canola treatment, diatomaceous earth is registered, but only as an empty bin treatment. It’s not registered to mix into the grain as you’re dumping it into the bin.”
Stanford said he’s aware of a diatomaceous earth-malathion mixture that’s on the market, so it’s important for producers to make sure they’re using the right product.
“The lindane seed treatment would only be an issue if you’re saving your seed and treating it yourself on the farm. Lindane hasn’t been available for quite a few years, but there is still some out there,” he said.
“We’d encourage producers not to use it. There is no way to segregate it. The U.S. has zero tolerance for lindane, so if it does get picked up, they’re going to shut us down.”
Stanford said Amitrol can be used as a desiccant, but the council recommends it only as a pre-plant application.
Stanford said preharvest intervals for products such as insecticides are based on number of days from when a chemical is applied to when the plant is cut.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re going to straight cut or swath. It’s the amount of days from when you apply it to when you cut the plant. If you’re straight cutting, your days to harvest interval opens up considerably,” Stanford said.
“If you’re going to be spraying a late season insect infestation like bertha armyworms, make sure you’re using an insecticide that has a shorter preharvest interval.”
Stanford said producers may have sprayed for bertha armyworms in the swath last year and then assumed preharvest interval was the time from when they sprayed to when they combined. That’s not recommended, he added.
“We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can at the farmgate to protect these markets.”
