CFIA outsources soybean seed crop inspection

Thursday, February 17, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will explore outsourcing soybean seed crop inspections in a pilot taking place in Ontario this fall.

The agency announced Thursday it plans to use second and third party inspection services for some seed crops grown near London and Chatham.

Dale Adolph, executive director of the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association, says Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited will inspect the fields growing certified soybean seed the company has agreed to buy. Alberta-based 20/20 Seed Labs Inc. will test 50 fields each near London and Chatham that have been assigned to other companies or that farmers are growing for their own account.

The pilot will only apply to fields of certified seed; the agency will continue to inspect fields with higher generation soybean seeds (seeds that are used to multiply a registered variety to prepare it for market but are not sold).

“We’re keeping it small,” says Adolphe. The seed growers’ association, the Canadian Seed Institute and the Canadian Seed Trade Association are involved in the pilot.

The goal is to streamline operations and reduce costs. “Certainly effectiveness would translate into reduced cost across everybody that’s involved,” Adolphe says. He points out that the CFIA hires several casual inspectors each summer. If fewer casual inspectors were hired it would reduce costs in the system, he says.

Adolphe says the London and Chatham areas were chosen because four companies there were already providing second party inspections for hybrid corn and soybean production is concentrated there. The CFIA has used second party inspections for hybrid corn and third party inspections for hybrid canola for several years.

In 2010, 150,000 acres of soybeans were inspected in Ontario, Adolphe says. BF