The old battle against potato virus Y (PVY) is becoming harder there, noted Tyler MacKenzie, research and development co-ordinator at the Agricultural Certification Services Lab of Potatoes New Brunswick, and it’s a sneaky problem. Infected plants are hard to spot. With the strains the region is dealing with, there often aren’t a lot of above-ground symptoms to warn of a budding issue.

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba Agriculture is on the watch for aphid populations, known vectors for PVY, every year.

PVY remains the top cause of mosaic disease in potatoes, bringing down yields and tainting seed stocks, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Growers know it by its common signs: stunted growth, vein banding, leaf drop and early death of plants, with infected potato crops often showing dwarfed size and crinkled leaves.

It’s also an insect management problem. The virus hangs out on the mouthparts of aphids who have fed on infected plants, spreading through a field. It doesn’t take much PVY in a field for seed potatoes to be rejected, resources published by AAFC note.

Necrotic strains like PVYntn have made the problem worse, according to research by MacKenzie and other potato virologists with the Agricultural Certification Services Lab.

These strains cause brownish necrotic rings in tubers while producing minimal leaf symptoms.

Research from potato commodity groups shows that the newer strains of the virus spread faster than older varieties, affecting more plants even when individual impacts were lower. The strains also cause severe tuber necrosis in susceptible varieties.

The problem has grown as New Brunswick’s potato industry consolidated, attendees heard. The number of seed growers has declined, while more operations mix seed production with processing crops.

“In recent years, you can see that the exclusive seed growers … managed to keep their PVY levels low, but the mixed growers really lost control of their PVY,” MacKenzie said.

Why management matters

But the data also showed growers using strict management practices kept infection rates low even during severe aphid years.

The virus can overwinter in tubers left in the field and is easily transmitted during seed cutting operations, or when poor handling causes tissue damage. Aphids, especially the green peach aphid, are the primary mode of transmission. Alternative host plants include other members of the nightshade, goosefoot and legume families.

The most effective control measure is using clean seed.

Fields planted with seed containing around two per cent PVY had five times the failure rate in bad years compared to cleaner seed, MacKenzie said.

Oil sprays as an aphid control also reduced infection rates. Growers applying at least two litres per acre of mineral oil weekly saw infection rates drop by half or a third compared to those using lower concentrations, research showed. Combined with strategic insecticide use and monitoring through aphid alert programs, these tools help growers control the disease, attendees heard.

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Incumbent premier Blaine Higgs’ Progressive Conservative government was defeated by Susan Holt’s Liberals, who scored a majority with 31 of 49 seats; the Tories followed with 16 and the Greens with two. Higgs narrowly lost in his own constituency of Quispamsis.

Higgs’ agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries minister, Margaret Johnson, easily held her northwestern riding of Carleton-Victoria by a spread of over 2,600 votes against Liberal challenger Julian Moulton.

The Liberals’ incumbent ag critic, Eric Mallet, also easily held his riding of Shippagan-Les Îles by a spread of over 3,900 votes against the Greens’ Wilfred Roussel.

The Liberals’ previous ag critic, Isabelle Thériault, held her riding of Caraquet by almost 5,300 votes over Tory challenger Jean Paul Lanteigne.

Among other ag-adjacent MLAs, farmer and Green representative Kevin Arseneau narrowly lost in his riding of Kent North against Liberal challenger Pat Finnigan.

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“Potato farmers in New Brunswick work tirelessly to produce their crops, but excessive moisture last year had a direct impact on their operations,” said federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a news release today.

“This joint AgriRecovery initiative will provide targeted support to the sector, helping farmers get back on their feet so they can keep producing the top-quality products they’re known for.”

The initiative will compensate eligible producers for extraordinary costs related to growing, harvesting, storage or disposal of last year’s potato crop.

Summer of 2023 was “one of the wettest summers on recent record,” said New Brunswick’s Agriculture Minister Margaret Johnson.

“The financial impact on New Brunswick potato growers was significant,” Johnson said. “The new AgriRecovery initiative for potato growers will provide much-needed help. This is an important response to what the industry has asked for and a critical step in ensuring the sector is able to remain resilient.”

AgriRecovery is an ad hoc disaster relief framework for farmers. Program funding is cost-shared between the federal and provincial governments.

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Lee is expected to weaken into a strong tropical storm before making landfall in southwestern Nova Scotia as a strong tropical storm late on Saturday, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said.

Even so, the storm has the potential to dump as much as four inches of rain and produce winds of up to 97 km/h in some spots, prompting U.S. and Canadian officials to urge residents to prepare for possible flooding and power outages.

“Please plan ahead to stay indoors if possible on Saturday and check on your loved ones and neighbors,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement to the city’s 650,000 residents.

Some eight million Americans in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine were under a tropical storm warning, with conditions in those states expected to deteriorate on Friday and into Saturday, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) said.

In Canada, more than one million people in Nova Scotia and eastern New Brunswick were also under a tropical storm warning as the massive storm crawls northward over the open waters of the Atlantic.

“Heavy rainfall rates and potential gusty winds are our largest concern for inland areas, with the addition of high surf and minor inundation along the coast,” the NWS said on Facebook on Friday.

Some spots, such as Cape Cod in Massachusetts and eastern Halifax County in Nova Scotia may see storm surge of up to three feet, forecasters said.

As of Friday morning, the storm was about 785 km southeast of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket as it moved north at about 26 km/h. It was expected to pick up speed and weaken through the day, the weather service said.

Lee is the latest storm in what is proving to be a busy hurricane season that has featured a higher-than-average number of named storms.

Just two weeks ago, on Aug. 30, Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast. As it moved north, the powerful storm dumped heavy rains across Florida and southeastern Georgia, flooding numerous communities and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

— Reporting for Reuters by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago.

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed an outbreak of high-path avian flu in what it describes as non-commercial, non-poultry birds at a property in eastern New Brunswick.

Details about the property and the type and number of affected birds weren’t available Wednesday, except that the case was detected Jan. 11 in Kent County, north of Moncton.

New Brunswick has only seen one other case in North America’s current wave of high-path avian flu, detected in a non-commercial poultry flock in Albert County, just south of Moncton, last April. CFIA released the area around those premises from “primary control zone” status on June 7.

In June, the provincial ag department imposed a ban on commingling of domestic birds, such as at fairs, shows, sales or exhibitions.

The department said at the time it would “continue to monitor and re-evaluate the status of the virus (but) it is not expected that we will see a break in virus activity sufficient to allow safe in-person co-mingling of birds for the 2022 season.”

B.C. outbreaks continue

The only other province reporting high-path flu cases so far this month is British Columbia, which since autumn has been Canada’s hot zone for the virus in domestic birds.

As of Jan. 11, about 3.403 million domestic birds in that province have been impacted since the start of the current wave of high-path avian flu in North America in late 2021 — just under half of the Canada-wide total of 6.924 million across nine provinces.

Outbreaks in domestic birds in B.C. since the start of the new year include four commercial poultry operations at Chilliwack, detected Jan. 7, 11, 14 and 18; a commercial poultry operation at Abbotsford, detected Jan. 13; and two backyard poultry flocks on Vancouver Island on Jan. 6, one at Tofino and one in the surrounding Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District.

During December 2022 alone, B.C. saw 35 high-path avian flu outbreaks, all but two of which were in commercial poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley.

The only other provinces seeing outbreaks in December were Ontario, in three commercial poultry operations at Lambton Shores, northeast of Sarnia; and Quebec, in a backyard poultry flock in the Drummond municipality surrounding Drummondville.

While Canada’s wave of cases since late 2021 has been in the H5N1 strain of high-path avian flu, CFIA in November also confirmed a case of H5N6 avian flu in a single wild bird, a blue-winged teal, found in Manitoba.

The bird, which was found alive in August, marks the first-ever confirmed Canadian appearance of H5N6, which has not since been reported again in any wild or domestic birds in Manitoba or elsewhere.

In the U.S., meanwhile, the federal agriculture department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reported high-path H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in 47 states since the start of the North American wave, impacting 57.87 million domestic birds across 731 commercial and backyard flocks.

Since the start of the new year, APHIS has reported 13 outbreaks in U.S. domestic flocks, two of which were in commercial poultry: one in northeastern South Dakota, confirmed Jan. 5, and one in northern California, confirmed Jan. 12.

APHIS on Wednesday announced it plans to prepare an environmental impact statement, examining potential effects of its response activities involving high-path avian flu outbreaks in domestic birds. Effects to be examined include potential impacts on soil, air and water quality, public health and plant and wildlife populations. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Fiona recorded the lowest barometric pressure ever for a storm when it made landfall on Saturday as a post-tropical storm with powerful winds, rainfall and high waves, the hurricane centre said.

Farmers to fishermen in Atlantic Canada are seeking government help after the storm devastated vessels, farms and harbour infrastructure, with flooding now threatening to damage the potato crop in Prince Edward Island, which accounts for a fifth of Canada’s output.

“Even as we see the devastation, we also see, in conversations I had with fishers and farmers and folks who are cleaning up their lives and trying to recover, there is a resilience to Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters in Stanley Bridge, P.E.I.

DBRS credit rating agency said the storm could result in record insured losses for the Atlantic provinces, putting the initial estimate between $300 million and $700 million. But the industry should be able to deal with the blow as the Atlantic Canada property insurance market is relatively small, it said.

Insurance Bureau of Canada said it would take several weeks to get a clear idea of insurance claims.

By Tuesday morning more than a quarter of electricity customers in Nova Scotia were still without power.

Defense Minister Anita Anand told reporters the federal government was ready to send more troops to help with cleanup efforts.

The Canadian Independent Fish Harvester’s Federation on Tuesday sought financial help to rebuild infrastructure at Small Craft Harbours facilities and to recover lost and damaged fishing vessels.

While lobster fishing is minimal at this time of year, it will be critical to repair wrecked harbours before spring, when fishing picks up, said Kent Poole, who fishes in P.E.I. Canada is one of the world’s biggest lobster exporters.

‘Storability’

The potato harvest was just underway when Fiona hit and the rain it left behind may rot crops in low-lying areas, said Greg Donald, general manager of the P.E.I. Potato Board.

Farmers are also struggling to find enough diesel to run machinery, some lost warehouses, and many are still without power needed to operate conveyors and sorting equipment, Donald said.

“The big concern will be rot and storability, but time will tell,” Donald said. “If we continue to get rain, it’ll be a bigger problem.”

Many farmers in affected regions already have tractor PTO-powered generators to keep barns and other systems operating, Tim Marsh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, told Glacier FarmMedia on Tuesday — “although unfortunately we’ve heard of a few cases where those have failed on startup.”

While those producers have been able to share generators and other resources, Marsh said it wouldn’t be surprising to learn of a “substantial amount” of product lost, due to lack of available storage, cut transportation links and other logistics issues.

Fruit crops such as apples and wine grapes may see some damage due to bruising or leaf loss on grapevines, he said, but the extent of that damage won’t be fully known until harvest is completed.

— Reporting for Reuters by John Morris; additional reporting and writing by Ismail Shakil and Rod Nickel. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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“If we don’t change the way we farm, feeding the world in 30 years will require an 87 per cent increase in carbon emissions,” McCain CEO Max Koeune said. “The implications of that are bleak.”

Farms of the Future are commercial full-scale, full-rotation, regenerative potato farms that aim to prove both the economic and agronomic business cases for regenerative practices.

Jess Newman, senior director of agriculture and sustainability for McCain, says the need for new regenerative practices and sustainable agriculture is because of climate change and the existential threat it poses to the potato industry.

“We know that [climate change] is devastating to the grower’s bottom line, and all the way through the McCain supply chain to our consumers,” said Newman. “So, our investments in regenerative agriculture are about investments in building soils, which we ultimately know build on-farm resilience.”

McCain laid out a framework for its regenerative farms which entails armouring soils, minimizing soil disturbance, enhancing crop and ecosystem diversity, reducing agrochemical impact and optimizing water use.

According to Newman, by implementing these practices, they can “de-risk” them and provide a data set for producers.

“Where we have a regenerative practice in a certain region where we’re not sure about the economic return or the impact on soils, that’s where McCain wants to come forward and provide funding and help de-risk that practice,” Newman said.

Looking at the data

On over 160 acres, the New Brunswick Farm of the Future planted 28 crop species in different fields to improve biodiversity and regenerate soils. The multispecies cover crops that were planted ranged from faba beans to brome grass and oats among others.

The benefits noted include: improved water infiltration, decreased water runoff and soil erosion, using different root types to increase nutrients, removing soil compaction, and lowering the risk of soil-borne pests and diseases.

Another practice that saw success was fall bedding and seeding cover crops. Farms of the Future was able to reduce tillage and successfully establish cover crops prior to winter arriving.

The most challenging practices, according to McCain, were livestock integration, rotational grazing and the controlled-traffic farming system.

The Farms of the Future 2021 Growers report said it experimented with livestock on the farm for the purpose of incorporating manure without having to transport or spread it.

“We implemented strip grazing — a type of rotational grazing that involves confining livestock to a strip with fresh pasture for short periods of time (one to three days). Strip grazing allows managing pastures by alternatively grazing and resting to allow regrowth of the grasses. At the Farm of the Future Canada, a movable fence in a linear orientation controlled the grazing area available to cattle.”

What the farm concluded about the performance of its potatoes was that its yields were about the same as the New Brunswick average, about 411 hundredweight per acre. The use of fertilizer in all its potato crops was 16.7 per cent compared to farms of similar size.

McCain is now looking to open its next Farm of the Future in South Africa.

— Liam O’Connor reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Saskatoon.

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it confirmed the presence of high-path avian flu on Monday in a small flock at Turtle Creek, about 20 km southwest of Moncton.

The agency didn’t say what types of birds or how many were affected, nor with what subtype of avian flu.

CFIA has, however, previously confirmed high-path H5N1 in wild birds in the province, including in six American crows and a bufflehead at Norton, southeast of Turtle Creek, and in a black-backed gull, red-tailed hawk and snowy owl at Dundas, north of Moncton. All those cases were found during February.

As has been the case in Canada’s other outbreaks in domestic birds this year, the infected New Brunswick premises has been placed under quarantine, CFIA said, adding it will be setting up movement control measures on other farms within the area.

Since our report on Monday on this website, CFIA has also confirmed more outbreaks of avian flu in commercial poultry and backyard birds, including:

• a poultry flock at Camrose County in Alberta, with high-path H5N1, on Monday;
• a small non-commercial backyard flock in Kelowna, B.C., with high-path H5N1, also on Monday;
• a poultry flock near Wingham in southwestern Ontario’s Huron County, with high-path H5N1, on Tuesday; and
• a poultry flock in the R.M. of Montrose, southwest of Saskatoon, with an unspecified type and subtype of high-path avian flu, also on Tuesday.

CFIA didn’t specify what types of birds or how many were affected in any of those cases. Ontario’s Feather Board Command Centre, in a notice Tuesday to poultry and egg producers in Huron County, said the case there was in a “larger-scale” poultry flock showing “elevated mortality.”

The new cases bring the total of avian flu outbreaks in commercial Canadian poultry flocks so far this year to 43, across seven provinces: 16 in central and southern Alberta, 15 in southern Ontario, four in Quebec’s Estrie, four in western Saskatchewan, two in western Nova Scotia and one each in B.C.’s Okanagan and eastern Manitoba.

CFIA also continues setting up primary control zones (PCZs) surrounding infected premises, in which all movement of domestic birds and poultry products — whether in, out or through — is “strictly controlled” and requires CFIA permits. As of Wednesday, CFIA had officially set up 40 PCZs across the country.

Each of the 10 provinces has also now confirmed cases of avian flu in wild birds and/or non-commercial or backyard flocks in this latest run of high-path avian flu through Canada.

As of April 21, CFIA has put the estimated number of commercial and non-commercial domestic birds affected by avian flu in Canada this year at about 717,000.

Further south, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) since February has confirmed high-path avian flu in commercial poultry and/or backyard flocks in 29 states, including six on the Canadian border.

As of April 16, such cases have so far been found in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Across those states, APHIS said Wednesday that high-path avian flu has so far this year affected over 33 million domestic birds, including both commercial poultry and backyard flocks.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday announced the transfer of almost US$263 million from the U.S. Commodity Credit Corporation over to APHIS, to “directly support the response efforts” against avian flu. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The federal government on Monday released its list and map of prescribed drought regions where tax deferral on sales of breeding livestock has been authorized for the 2020 tax year.

In regions officially designated for drought, flood or excess moisture, the tax deferral provision allows eligible producers who reduced their breeding herds by at least 15 per cent to defer part of their 2020 income from sales until their next non-designated tax year.

To defer income, a producer’s breeding herd must have been reduced by at least 15 per cent. If the herd was cut by at least 15 per cent, but less than 30 per cent, then 30 per cent of income from net sales can be deferred. Where a producer reduced a breeding herd by 30 per cent or more, 90 per cent of income from net sales can be deferred.

In the 2021 tax year — or the next tax year in which the designation is lifted for a specific region — the income from those sales can be at least partially offset by the cost of reacquiring breeding animals, “thus reducing the potential tax burden,” the government said.

Along with all of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the drought-designated regions include 82 census subdivisions in southeastern Quebec’s Gaspesie and Bas-Saint-Laurent regions, plus the Cumberland census subdivisions A, B, C and D and Colchester subdivision A in northwestern Nova Scotia.

In those regions last year, “low moisture levels resulted in significant forage shortages for livestock producers,” the government said, and reducing breeding herds so as to manage feed supplies was one available option.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said Tuesday it appreciates the designations, but noted that with the 2020 individual tax year payment deadline of April 30, 2021 already passed, “eligible producers may need to take additional steps to utilize the deferral.”

For example, the CCA said, producers who’ve yet to file a self-employed farming income 2020 tax return have until June 15 this year to account for the deferral provisions.

If an eligible producer want to defer such income but already filed a return for 2020, the CCA recommends producers talk to a tax professional about filing a 2020 tax return adjustment.

In its statement, the CCA also said its position is still that “considerable amendments to the provision are needed to make it a more functional risk management tool for cattle producers.”

For example, the association said, the provision could be set up so producers could use it “through individual election rather than a geographic determination.”

That way, the provision doesn’t run the risk of “delayed announcements” or excluding access for affected producers who fall outside a designated area’s exact boundary lines. The CCA said it would also like to see all classes of cattle eligible under the deferral provision.

The CCA noted the House of Commons’ standing committee on agriculture and agri-food, in a report last fall on business risk management programs, recommended the federal government work with farm groups on a “comprehensive review” of the deferral provision. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Aimed at farm workplaces and employee living quarters, the fund is being managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), but cost-shared with participating producers at a 50-50 level.

Money is coming from a $58.6 million federal package announced in July, focused on better supporting temporary foreign workers and strengthening employer inspections.

As of Monday the fund is available for producers to apply in Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories.

“Some (provinces) preferred to see the federal government manage the programs, others preferred to manage it themselves. Some already have a similar program that they will be able to improve, or make it more generous, or include a longer list of eligible expenses,” Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said when the program was announced Monday.

Programs being developed and delivered in the other provinces — British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec — will be announced in coming weeks, Bibeau said.

Money from the fund can be used on direct infrastructure improvements to living quarters or work stations, the creation of emergency or temporary housing and to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE).

Each applicant can receive up to $100,000.

According to AAFC, “an additional 10 per cent will be provided to women and youth applicants making the split 60:40 as the government is taking steps to promote and empower women and youth in the agricultural sector.”

Bibeau said this will apply in instances where farm businesses are majority-owned by women or young producers.

“The biggest diversity challenge we have is with women and youth, but there is certainly indigenous and black community (members) that could be included in this privileged cost-sharing, absolutely,” she said.

Greenhouses, which employ a significant portion of Canada’s migrant workforce, are also eligible to apply for the funding.

In her virtual press availability with reporters, Bibeau said AAFC will put a priority on the “highest-risk farms for COVID-19 outbreaks” to receive funding.

“It will be based on the working environment, housing conditions and the number of employees is fundamental element of the risk of contamination from one to the other,” she said. “The overall evaluation of the working environment and housing environment, and the number of workers.”

According to her, producers can expect to receive money roughly 30 days after they file their application. Eligible costs are retroactive to March 15, and the fund will be available until the end of February.

When the plan was first announced in July, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said government needed to take further steps to protect workers because of reports of “inappropriate behaviour and unsafe working conditions.”

During her press availability, Bibeau said the responsibility to ensure the best measures are in place to protect workers is a shared one.

“We have to remember that these migrant worker programs are primarily labour programs, and then comes the immigration or temporary immigration part of it. We want to be extremely careful that any workers, migrants or Canadians, are well protected, that we put sufficient measures in place,” she said.

“Obviously COVID has put the light on the weaknesses of this program and I think it’s always important to remind people that the vast majority of farmers and agri-food employers are good employers who care for their employees, but there are bad ones. This is why we’re strengthening the measures to identify them, with more follow-up and inspections, better collaboration with the provinces and the foreign country consulate and embassies.”

Part of the $58.6 million funding commitment from July included $16.2 million to be used to hire new inspectors and ensure all allegations against employers are addressed.

Each year, 50,000-60,000 foreign agricultural and food production workers come to work in Canada, with 2019 marking a high-water mark for the number of workers.

According to Bibeau, Canada has received about 84 per cent of the number of foreign workers it took in last year.

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a heightened focus on the conditions of TFWs in Canada, in part due to outbreaks and COVID-19-related deaths among some workers.

July’s funding announcement included plans to begin consulting with the provinces and territories on mandatory requirements for the TFW program in the months to come.

“We have to make it easier for the good (employers) and very much harder for the bad ones,” Bibeau said.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

CORRECTION, Oct. 5: A previous version of this article stated the program was to be 50-50 cost-shared between Ottawa and participating provinces. We regret the error.

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