by SUSAN MANN
The avian influenza crisis in British Columbia and foot and mouth disease outbreaks across the world assures that the word biosecurity is well understood by Ontario’s livestock and poultry producers. Grain and oilseeds farmers are going to find out what it means for the crops they grow in their fields as well.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is developing a voluntary biosecurity standard for crops grown to feed humans, livestock and industrial purposes. The goal is to help farmers control pests and diseases on their farms.
The standard is being developed by the Grains and Oilseeds Sector Biosecurity Advisory Group with representatives from grower organizations, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canada Grains Council, the Canadian Grain Commission and provincial agriculture departments.
The crop types covered in the standard will include official and unofficial grains defined under the Canada Grains Act. The official grains include; corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, oats, rye, triticale, canola , pulses, and mixed grains while the unofficial grains include canary seed, spelt, kamut and quinoa.
The Canada Grains Council has a voluntary food safety program called ExcelGrains Canada. Farm input is coming from a committee of farmers appointed by organizations from across the country. Dale Riddell, program manager, says the same committee is contributing to the biosecurity standard.
“Farmers recognize there’s a lot of interest in making sure that we are doing a credible job in being safe and prudent in the production of food,” Riddell explains.
Farmers were insistent that both the ExcelGrains Canada program and the biosecurity guidelines being developed now by CFIA should be national. They didn’t want each province to have its own set of guidelines. They were also insistent that both programs be voluntary.
The term ‘farm-level biosecurity’ means using a series of management practices to minimize prevent or control the introduction and spread of pests and diseases at the farm level, explains a CFIA press release. The national voluntary standard will give farmers a common approach for controlling major plant pests and diseases, such as bacteria, fungi, insects and weeds.
Riddell says most farmers already take some biosecurity measures in their operations. “It can range from watching the kind of seed that you use to who comes on your farm.”
The biosecurity standard being developed is focusing strictly on biosecurity guidelines as a tool for farmers, Riddell says. The on-farm food safety program developed by the Canada Grains Council goes beyond biosecurity.
Kanwal Kochhar, national manager of the CFIA grains and oilseeds section, says the grains and oilseeds standard is being developed as part of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to establish on-farm biosecurity standards for the agricultural industry. Animal on-farm biosecurity standards are already being developed with the first one, the national avian on-farm biosecurity standard, being done in 2009.
“A year ago it was identified that some plant standards should be developed,” she says. “Two sectors, grains and oilseeds and potato, were identified as top priorities.”
When it’s completed, Kochhar says the standard will be like a booklet identifying the best management practices farmers can use to keep disease and pest levels to a minimum. There will also be brochures and web content that will help farmers develop their own farm-specific biosecurity plans.
The national standard will complement existing farm-level biosecurity programs and will take about two years to develop. Funding for its development is coming from the Growing Forward Agricultural Policy Framework. A total of $9.364 million was earmarked to be used from 2009 to 2013 to develop national biosecurity standards for eight priority commodities, including beef, dairy, bees, sheep, goats, mink, potato and grains and oilseeds. BF
Comments
I find no fault with the concept‘farm-level biosecurity’ described as a series of management practices to minimize prevent or control the introduction and spread of pests and diseases at the farm level, BUT
The traditional definition of pest, disease or weed is anything considered a nuisance, unintentionally growing or occupying and area in a human-controlled setting it is not wanted or intended to be in.
That said it will be interesting to see who will win out when it comes to species at risk, wildlife trespass intrusions, unwanted and uninvited by farmers while advocated by (urban wildlife)consumers without adequate compensation for uninvited invasion or economic loss.
Advocacates of more safegard regulation talk of "food policies" but without an all encompassing "agricultural policy" complete with rights for agricultural production including property rights, security there will just be another in a list of impossible conflicting regulations, from the most recent and persistent spray resistant type of invading pest to be managed.
Although farm level bio security might be voluntary at the onset the onus of responsibility within premise trace ability would suggest farmers and rural Ont.(read as scapegoats) are headed for a proverbial gallows showdown when it comes to who pays and who done it.
Post new comment