Prairie flax growers will get a 50 per cent discount on the regular cost of testing their pedigreed and farm-saved seed for Triffid genetics, effective Jan. 1.
The Flax Council of Canada has budgeted $1.5 million to cover half the cost, up to $100, of tests during the 2011-12 crop year to cull the genetically modified (GM) variety from Western Canada’s seed stocks.
The council will reimburse the labs handling the testing for the discounts, in the first stage of what’s expected to be a multiyear program, backed with funding from the federal government’s Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP).
Read Also
Volunteers help exotic animal farm rebuild
Exotic animal farm loses beloved camel and pony to huge hail storm that gripped the Brooks, Alta. area as a community member starts a fundraiser to help the family recover from the financial and emotional damage.
The testing program is meant to eliminate Triffid from flax in Canada and maintain access to EU markets. Starting in the new crop year on Aug. 1, the program will be extended to cover the testing of all flax production, the council said in a recent release.
The council has spearheaded a testing regime for farm samples of flax seed since the discovery of low levels of Triffid in shipments of flax to the European Union (EU) in September 2009.
With a testing program in place, shipments of flax have resumed to the EU, which is Canada’s largest export market for flax. Exporters have been able to identify shipments testing positive for Triffid and direct them away from the EU, the council said.
Such a program dramatically cuts the incidence of positive tests in rail car shipments arriving at ports, the council said.
Under the council’s program, producers can use their own saved seed for planting flax crops, as long as it undergoes the same testing procedures for Triffid as those already in place for pedigreed seed.
But the “best option” for flax growers remains the planting of pedigreed seed that’s been tested and shown to be free of Triffid, the council said.
———
ThetestingprogramismeanttoeliminateTriffidfrom flaxinCanadaandmaintainaccesstoEUmarkets.
