Provincial Crop Assurance Program meets with Ag Service Board
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Michael Harding, crop assurance program lead with the Government of Alberta, presented to the Wheatland County Agriculture Service Board, Jan. 10, speaking about crop disease monitoring in the local region.
“Sometimes, disease issues can be trade irritants (and) it is important for us to know if diseases are getting worse or if they are receding. Is there something new emerging? – This could be fungicide resistance emerging, or resistance-breaking pathotypes of clubroot emerging, etc.” he said. “It also helps to inform researchers on what priorities might need to be rearranged or placed in certain ways, and it helps life science companies and crop projection companies deploy management tools to regions where they are needed when they can understand where things are going to be necessary.”
Harding added, under the Alberta Pest Act, some species of flora and fauna are classified as pests which are regulated and monitored to keep an eye on their statuses.
Random representative surveys are generally the format for which monitoring and sampling is completed by the province. Samples are taken from a large sample area over several fields selected randomly so as to generate a more accurate representation of crop statuses across the county.
The Agricultural Pests Act is provided for the extermination of agricultural pests – defined as any animal, insect, or disease that may likely be destructive or dangerous to grain and other crops.
“The thing that really links us with folks like ag service board fieldmen in each county is the Pest Act. The section that I am in in the government has a regulatory affairs branch that is really responsible for the act and regulations, but the ag service fieldman is the local authority for enforcement of acts like the Pest act, Weed Act, and the Bee act,” said Harding. “This is what really links our work in crop assurance with ag service boards. We want to prevent the spread, we want to reduce hardships to producers, we want to make sure we are not restricted in our international trade.”
He explained for certain kinds of pests for which effective management options do not exist, the best way to tackle the problem is to simply avoid or eradicate them when they show up. These are the types of pests which are regulated under the Acts.
Pests detailed under the Act include wild boar, Norway rats, grasshoppers, clubroot, and blackleg, among others.
More information regarding the presentation to the Agriculture Service Board is available through the recorded meeting minutes posted to the Wheatland County YouTube channel, as well as via the province’s documents which are publicly available.