Engineered alfalfa seeds ‘adds some complexity’ to Ontario hay export venture says forage council manager

by SUSAN MANN

Some Middle Eastern countries are refusing to accept genetically modified hay, and now that GM alfalfa seeds are being planted in Eastern Canada, exporters with hay destined for those countries will have to monitor their product closely.

Ray Robertson, manager of the Ontario Forage Council, says hay from the United States and Western Canada has been exported to Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

The availability of GM alfalfa in Canada “adds some complexity to the (export) situation,” he says.

Ontario hay exports to the Middle East haven’t started yet “mainly because we don’t have the double compaction facilities yet,” he notes.

The Ontario Hay and Forage Co-operative Inc. was formed this spring and is looking into the feasibility of setting up a double compaction hay facility in southern Ontario, likely in the Guelph/Kitchener area. The proposed facility would handle up to 100,000 tonnes of hay annually and cost an estimated $10 million to $15 million to build.

The Ontario Forage Council has not taken a position on GM alfalfa. “We have members on both sides of the fence,” Robertson says.
 
Forage Genetics International began selling its genetically modified alfalfa seed in the spring. It contains both Monsanto’s glyphosate-tolerant trait (called Roundup Ready) plus another trait reducing the amount of lignin in the plant.

 Lignin is a structural component of alfalfa plants that hold them upright, says the company’s March news release announcing the sales. Reducing lignin should make the genetically modified alfalfa more digestible for cattle and dairy cows.

Only a limited amount of seed (enough to plant less than 5,000 acres of hay) was available in Eastern Canada, and the product is not yet available in Western Canada. Canadian growers are required to keep hay produced from the genetically modified alfalfa in Canada.

Seed quantities allocated for the spring in Eastern Canada were sold out this spring, a company spokesman said in an earlier interview.

The product received approval for unconfined environmental release in 2014 from Canadian regulatory authorities. American farmers have been growing genetically modified alfalfa since 2005.

Meanwhile, opponents of genetically modified alfalfa are continuing to ask federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay to halt sales of the product. In an April 20 news release, the National Farmers Union (Canada) says a letter signed by 15 farm organizations asks MacAulay to remove the variety registration for GM alfalfa until a full economic impact assessment is done.

The groups are also asking the minister to establish a protocol to test all imported alfalfa seed grown in the United States, the release said. BF