Manitoba co operator

Page 1

PORK Pain management

A Greener greenhouse

Industry declared ready for new rules » PG 7

Biocontrol keeps pests in check » PG 18

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 24 | $1.75

June 16, 2016

Slow licensing process shuts out hemp growers The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance wants hemp production and processing rules streamlined so it can compete

manitobacooperator.ca

Fruit Crops Branch begins monitoring for SWD The Manitoba Agriculture Crop Industry Branch’s Fruit Crops Program began monitoring for spotted wing drosophila last week

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff

W

ould-be hemp growers are being forced to take a pass on the speciality crop this spring because of bureaucratic shortfalls. The seeding deadline for full crop insurance coverage for industrial hemp was June 10, but some farmers still had not received a licence from Health Canada to grow the crop, while others gave up earlier and switched to another crop, says Kim Shukla, executive director of the Canadian Industrial Hemp Association. “It’s absolutely ridiculous,” a frustrated Shukla said in an interview last week. “There have been so many changes at Health Canada they just don’t have the people working on our files any longer. It is creating a whole bunch of issues within Health Canada being able to process the documentation. They say they have a 30-working-day turnaround. We rarely see that.” See HEMP on page 6 »

Anthony Mintenko, Manitoba Agriculture’s fruit crops industry development specialist, began putting out detection traps to keep a lookout for spotted wing drosophila last week.   PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

C

ommercial fruit growers in Manitoba welcome all visitors, but the one no one wants to see this summer is spotted wing drosophila (SWD). The tiny vinegar fruit fly was first detected in 2013 in Manitoba but that year — and in 2014 — showed up in early August after most fruit crops were already harvested. Last year it showed up at the begin-

ning of July and multiplied so quickly by mid-month it had heavily damaged many commercially and homegrown fruit crops across the province. “(Last year) it started coming in near the U.S. border the first week of July,” said provincial fruit crops specialist Anthony Mintenko. “By mid-July it was starting to be in every raspberry field moving north and it was all spread across southern Manitoba.” This year the Manitoba Agriculture Crop Industry Branch’s Fruit Crops Program has stepped up its monitoring, with detection traps set out last

week in areas where the invasive fly has been traditionally detected. These include the Red River Valley, the South Pembina Valley, and south-central and southeastern regions of Manitoba. “It’s a canary in a coal mine sort of thing,” said Mintenko, who was setting out traps at a cherry farm just outside Carman last week. “If we do spot it and our fruit crops are at risk we’ll let growers know and what steps they need to take to help prevent infestation,” he said. See FRUIT FLY on page 6 »

BY THE BOOKS: Accounting standards eyed for farms » PAGE 31


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