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By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup

Agriculture Roundup for Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Jan 24, 2023 | 10:54 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is looking for a new leader.

According to media outlet Real Agriculture, President Siddika Mithani left the position suddenly after she sent a letter to colleagues and industry partners informing them of her retirement from public service.

Organizations including the National Farmers Union sent a letter to Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau last fall asking that Mithani be replaced over concerns about communications between the CFIA and CropLife Canada in drafting regulations regarding gene-edited crops.

The CFIA president supervises the agency, its staff, and its programs, reporting to both the Minister of Health and Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food on issues related to plant health, animal health, food safety, and international trade.

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The crop marketing app company Combyne Ag has been acquired by Bayer Crop Science.

Combyne, which was known as FarmLead until 2020, will continue to operate at arms-length to Bayer’s broader business, while benefiting from added resources.

There are currently no formal plans or timelines to integrate Combyne into Bayer’s Climate FieldView platform.

Most of the company’s fully remote workforce will remain in Ontario and Alberta.

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Prince Edward Island potato farmers said a new report on potato wart shows the 2021 decision to halt exports to the United States went too far, and they want remaining restrictions lifted for farms where the soil-borne fungus has not been found.

The report from the International Advisory Panel on Potato Wart submitted to the federal government last week found that while potato wart has been identified in clusters, most of P.E.I. is considered a pest-free area.

P.E.I. Potato Board chair John Visser said the panel’s report shows that Canada’s restrictions to manage potato wart have been an overreach.

The disease disfigures potatoes but poses no threat to human health, spreads through the movement of infected potatoes, soil and farm equipment.

Canada stopped sending the Island’s best-known export to the U.S. on Nov. 21, 2021, after the fungus was detected in a few fields on the Island. Shipments resumed in April 2022 after the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave Island farms the all-clear.

Visser said he and his peers were offended by the 2021 ministerial order that said the province was infested with potato wart when in fact only a handful of fields had the fungus.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW