CFIA eases soybean cyst nematode prevention regulations

Friday, October 4, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

The federal government has required importers of soybean seeds, all plants and potatoes to certify their products are free of soybean cyst nematode for 40 years, but starting next month that regulation will no longer be enforced.

That’s because “soybean cyst nematode has been reassessed as a low-risk pest due to the effectiveness of current farming practices, such as crop rotation, and the use of resistant varieties,” Canadian Food Inspection Agency media relations manager Guy Gravelle says by email. “Soybean cyst nematode no longer fits the definition of a quarantine pest of concern.”

Meghan Moran, research coordinator for Grain Farmers of Ontario, says the federal regulatory measures, in place since 1973, have had little impact on the spread of the “most important soybean pest” in the province.

Regulation, she explains, “won’t prevent movement through natural pathways.”

Moreover, the federal regulation contains domestic movement controls that are difficult to enforce. For example, “technically if you drive a tractor in a field with soybean cyst nematode you can’t drive it into another field without washing it first. But that wouldn’t truly have been enforced.”

The September issue of Hort Shorts, the Canadian Horticultural Council’s monthly newsletter says effective Nov. 25, the Agency will cease enforcement of phytosanitary import requirements and domestic movement controls related to the pest.
 
CFIA consulted with industry from February to December 2011 before making its decision, the newsletter says.

Gravelle confirmed CFIA consulted with industry stakeholders. Most of the groups they talked to, including those in Ontario, were in favour of deregulating soybean cyst nematode, he notes. But some groups initially were concerned deregulation would introduce the pest into new areas of Canada. That concern was resolved through more consultations in the spring and summer of 2012, he notes.

What deregulation means is CFIA will no longer require phytosanitary certificates to accompany all imports of soybean seed, potatoes and plants such as nursery stock, that specify these products are free from soybean cyst nematode, he explains. But “soil remains a prohibited substance and all imports are required to be free of soil.”

Soybean cyst nematode is a devastating pest of soybeans worldwide. The nematode infects the roots of soybean plants.

It was first detected in Ontario in 1987 and is now present in most soybean-producing areas of the province, Gravelle says.

Grain Farmers is working with the provincial agriculture ministry to do a survey to determine how prevalent soybean cyst nematode is across Ontario.

Farmers can find more information on how to protect their fields against plant pests like the soybean cyst nematode in the National Voluntary Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for the Grains and Oilseeds Industry. BF