The blight of fusarium on the farming map of southern Alberta has local farmers hoping the problem can be handled closer to home.
At the M.D. of Taber annual general meeting for ratepayers in April, a delegation brought its concerns to council with hopes Alberta Minister of Agriculture Jack Hayden will listen.
“In the south fusarium is here. The province has it under restricted. You can’t plant it,” said M.D. Coun. Brian Brewin, who sat on the Fusarium Action Committee and provincial ag service board committee last year. “There is a new variety of wheat that is fusarium-resistant that we are trying to breed into seed and it came back as low tolerance of fusarium. Basically, the seed we are trying to breed to be fusarium resistant has traces of fusarium in it, so we can’t grow it. We’re trying to get in contact with the minister to see if we can be able to seed it.”
The high levels of moisture southern Alberta has endured this fall and spring with numerous snow and rain storms has made it very favourable breeding ground for fusarium, but concerns are the province’s policies are too strict given what has been restricted.
“It has been an ideal fall for fusarium. A lot of the grain from last year has low levels of fusarium in it. That’s the issue right now is where do we get our seed from if a lot is infected with fusarium. That’s why we’re trying to get it lifted off the restricted list so we can have some tolerance levels,” said Brewin. “We have trace amounts like .05 of a percentage. The amounts that we are talking about are minute, but because of zero tolerance, zero is zero.”
Fusarium is a yearly issue that southern Alberta farmers deal with that are hit by above-average levels of moisture, an occurrence found more frequently compared to their northern counterparts, according to Brewin, for seed growers.
“My ultimate (wish list), would be let the farmers deal with it like they deal with everything else. It’s really a north-south issue. I can appreciate them not wanting it, but there has to be some practicality that we can move forward,” said Brewin of ratepayers who issued a letter of concern to the minister of agriculture. “There are a hundred other diseases that we best manage things for. I don’t think we need restrictions and be told by the province about what we can and can’t do. Let us manage it the best ways possible.”