- This is about FUSARIUM in GMO’d crops. The mycotoxins produced by fusarium are deadly in high enough quantity, as discussed in earlier postings. It’s why it has been illegal to sell grain that has fusarium in it.
It is disconcerting to see (Western Producer article below) that the proposed response to higher levels of fusarium in food grains is to raise the tolerance level. (Instead of it being illegal to sell.)
- There is a serious plant disease issue around GMO’d crops. (Makes sense to me – applied toxins eventually compromise immune systems.)
One disease, fusarium, should be discussed along with the increase in other crop diseases (just as the increases in human disease should be discussed together, not in isolation).
CLUB ROOT in canola (the disease remains in the soil for 60 years) has appeared and is on the march. Pretty well all the canola grown in Canada is GMO. (I’ll add the link to earlier posting on club root asap.)
- The Western Producer article below gives two reasons for the increase in fusarium:
largely influenced by local weather conditions.
Seeding date was also an important factor
The first article (Organic Consumers Assoc) says . . .
crops grown in the fields the year after Roundup Ready crops are at higher risk of disease.
Chemical loads on the fields are high, there are residual chemicals in the field which weakens immunity. And maybe the fusarium fungus remains in the soil, the same as for the club foot organism?
I wonder if the Western Producer has EVER reported on the connections between crop disease and GMO agriculture?
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Organic Consumers Association
Monsanto’s Roundup Spreading Deadly Fusarium Fungus
>From <gaia@gaianet.org>
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Canadian research just released confirms the suspicions raised by other
studies and farmers that Monsanto¹s glyphosate herbicide ³Roundup² leads to
increased presence of the Fusarium fungus on crops. The Fusarium pathogen
can lead to Fusarium Head Blight in wheat and other cereals, as well as
Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans.
This is bad news for growers of GM Roundup Ready crops, as well as for
Monsanto. It means that Roundup Ready crops sprayed with Roundup
(glyphosate) are at higher risk from disease. Furthermore, crops grown in the fields the year after Roundup Ready crops are at higher risk of disease.
This new research which links glyphosate applications to Fusarium Head
Blight in wheat comes at a controversial time in Canada and America, as
Monsanto¹s application to commercialise Roundup Ready wheat is being
considered. Fusarium Head Blight devastates huge proportions of North
America¹s and Europe¹s wheat crops, and farmers, activists and NGOs are
pleading with the Canadian government to reject or delay RR wheat approval
while there is a risk of increasing fusarium.
Best wishes,
Teresa
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FROM A MEMBER OF OUR NETWORK:
one of the lead authorities on fusarium…did PhD research on it… has worked with some of leads around world on this problem..
told me a dozen years ago that this train was coming down tracks…
said that by end of last decade, fully expected it to reach SK/AB border.
What is more interesting is that work uncovered a problem which took to a conference in States along with a colleague from Australia (?)
about 10 years ago….it had something to do with the spraying of roundup on newly planted crops as a guard against the fusarium fungus…seems the spraying was taking place at such a time in such a way . . showing me pix of the stock of young wheat shriveling or rotting around the base or few inches up from there.
research clearly attributed it to use of RoundUp…when the two disclosed this, they had Monsanto around their necks…paranoid about personal safety as was counterpart in Australia…
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http://www.producer.com/2013/01/fusarium-takes-toll-on-seed%E2%80%A9/
Fusarium takes toll on seed, Western Producer
by Brian Cross
Yields cut by nearly half | Concerns rise over spread of disease through cleaned pedigreed seed
Fusarium graminearum took a huge bite out of pedigreed seed supplies in 2012, particularly in Saskatchewan where some seed growers harvested unusually small crops that were heavily infected with the disease.
Fusarium cut grain yields by as much as 50 percent in some parts of the province, and the proportion of fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) in certified wheat and barley crops was unusually high, leading to additional cleanout losses of 30 percent or more.
The disease’s prevalence is raising concerns about whether it is being spread via pedigreed seed that contains traces of fusarium graminearum, even after the seed has been cleaned and conditioned. Graminearum is the most aggressive and costly of the fusarium species.
The yield losses caused by fusarium will almost certainly result in regional shortages of certified wheat and barley seed, said Bruce Carriere, manager of Discovery Seed Labs.
“There’s going to be a seed shortage, big time,” Carriere said. “There are some growers that have nothing to sell.”
Fusarium losses in Saskatchewan varied from region to region and were largely influenced by local weather conditions.
Seeding date was also an important factor in determining overall infection rates.
Some crops planted in early to mid-May were heavily infected while others planted later experienced minor losses.
Overall, there were numerous hotspots where infections rates reached record levels and where fusarium graminearum was evident on more than 50 percent of harvested kernels.
Joe Rennick, a certified seed grower from Milestone, Sask., south of Regina, said certified seed crops on his farm produced variable yields, depending on when they were seeded.
In some instances, wheat crops that looked like they would produce 50 or 60 bushels per acre yielded in the mid 20s.
“In the crops that were affected, it really hit the yield hard,” said Rennick.
He said certified wheat crops that were hardest hit produced yields of 22 to 28 bu. per acre, a disappointing outcome considering the density of the stands.
Clean-out losses on that material could cut production by another 20 to 30 percent, pushing the total marketable yield of conditioned certified seed as low 15 to 20 bu. per acre.
The prevalence of fusarium in certified seed crops is prompting discussions about whether the pedigreed seed industry should establish fusarium thresholds on certified seed supplies.
Most fusarium damaged kernels can be cleaned out of pedigreed seed using a gravity table, but there is no guarantee that the remaining seeds do not carry traces of fusarium graminearum.
Commercial grain growers who buy certified seed are responsible for asking whether the seed has been tested for fusarium graminearum and whether fusarium damaged kernels were prevalent in pre-conditioned seed lots.
Growers who plant farm-saved seed should check seed for traces of the disease.
In Alberta, fusarium graminearum was declared a pest under the province’s Agricultural Pest Act in 1999.
The declaration, when combined with Alberta’s fusarium management plan, means there is a zero-tolerance threshold on pedigreed seed that contains detectable traces of fusarium graminearum.
In other words, it is illegal for any Alberta farmer to buy, sell, distribute or grow seed that is contaminated with the fungus.
The increasing prevalence of the disease in Western Canada has the Alberta government and some Alberta seed growers questioning whether the zero-tolerance policy for seed-borne fusarium graminearum should be revisited.
Fusarium has already been detected in cereal crops produced in southern Alberta in 2010 and 2011.
The disease has also been confirmed in the Peace River district.
As well, unusually wet weather in Alberta last year is expected to encourage the disease’s spread.
Gayah Sieusahai, chair of the province’s fusarium action committee, said plant pathologists are reviewing the province’s fusarium management plan.
Support for a zero-tolerance policy on seed-borne fusarium may be waning in Alberta, especially given that the disease has already been detected in the province.
As well, Sieusahai said it is difficult to ensure that all certified seed transported across the Saskatchewan-Alberta border is fusarium-free.
To complicate matters, plots of breeder seed planted at Agriculture Canada’s seed increase unit near Indian Head, Sask., were also heavily infected in 2012.
That has prompted concerns that breeder seed from Agriculture Canada’s newest and most promising cereal varieties may contain traces of fusarium graminearum, even after the seed has been cleaned and conditioned.
If that is the case, breeder seed from Agriculture Canada’s Indian Head facility would be prohibited from entering Alberta’s pedigreed seed system unless existing terms of the province’s fusarium management plan are amended.
Officials at Indian Head will be examining conditioned seed lots in early 2013 to determine if heat treatment procedures were effective in eliminating seed-borne traces of fusarium graminearum.
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RELATED:
- The increase in the fungal disease, fusarium, in GMO crops was well-documented years ago. Traditionally, crops infected with fusarium have to be destroyed whether they are for human or animal consumption because of the associated production of deadly myco-toxins. Now, here is another related fungal disease:
Don Huber: I have been doing research on glyphosate for 20 years. I began noticing problems when I saw a consistent increase in “take-all” (a fungal disease that impacts wheat) where glyphosate had been applied in a previous year for weed control. I tried to understand why there was an increase in disease with glyphosate. . . . .
. . . There are a lot of serious questions about the impacts of glyphosate that we need answers for in order to continue using this technology. I don’t believe we can ignore these questions any more if we want to ensure a safe, sustainable food supply and abundant crop production.
2. From 2009-08-31 3. GM Wheat Critique of Penner’s “Synchronized introduction of GM Wheat“
Rolf Penner states: “One of the first problems GM wheat eliminates is a common fungus, fusarium, which attacks wheat and produces deadly mycotoxins.”
Let me explain:
GM wheat is engineered to withstand applications of, e.g. glyphosate (Monsanto’s “Roundup” and accompanying “Round-up Resistant” GMO wheat). Different chemical companies have their equivalent to Round-up and their own brand of GM seeds, different names from different chemical/biotech companies, but the process is the same: develop a GM crop that is resistant to your particular chemical, and patent the seed.
Response to Penner’s statement about fusarium: The research on the connection between glyphosate (roundup) and fusarium is conflicting. The industry is known for deliberately creating the “conflicting science”.
3. 2011-01-05 Updates: GMO’s, Monsanto, chemicals (roundup / glyphosate), genetically modified pigs
MONSANTO’S GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP): IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND PLANT LIFE
What is being said here is consistent with scientific research circulated earlier: fusarium (a fungus that you absolutely do not want in the food supply because of the health implications) is a problem in genetically modified crops (wheat at the time of the discussion). The crops are engineered to be resistant to applications of glyphosate (Monsanto’s Roundup). In my simple description: the application of the chemicals compromises the immune systems of the plants. The “scientists” who promote these technologies are doing an incredible disservice to the long term viability of the food system. This is just one of the associated issues.
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http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21039.cfm
Thanks to Elaine for the link. (For the complete text go to it.)
Excerpt: (the Don Huber statements in #1 above)