Owning it "Triffid"

[oneoff]

Just had a thought about it being against the law to attach a variety name to commercial grain; like can and is allowed with certified and pedigreed seed.
If true; has every publication and forum been breaking the law by allowing references to the Triffid variety in common seed. Or is it a case that no seed grower; or association; or owner, researcher or distributor would now admit that want any part of Triffid; and are pleased to give the variety and all its liabilities back to farmers. Maybe that is one way to start getting back some seed varieties that farmers may again use without restrictions.
Who knows that someday the Triffid variety may not even have some value. It may even turn out that it is more than a four letter word; and can be very safely incorporated onto the surface of muffins.
Now who says I can't be positive?

[TOM4CWB]

Oneoff,

Please note my references have been to the genetic event the construct being the object of all this flax testing.

It is very sad that the background levels of this GM flax event... need not have happened. For this to become a problem over 12 years after the decision to pull this variety... shows how unintended consequences and lack of due care and attention... that common sense and logic would require... were sadly lacking.

To say this problem could not have been forseen... is absurd. On our farm we have seen volunteer flax plants growing 6 years after a crop was grown... for the standard of breeder seed to be out of flax to grow out all the GM flax... was clearly unreasonable. Virtually all seed growers would agree...

Flax is little different in its longevity in the soil (being an oilseed)... yet the standards are much different for canola. Canola needs a 5 year break; Flax is 2 years between varieties for breeder seed production required. Flax is much harder to thrash than Canola... and harvest equipment much more likely to have higher levels of seed loss to create volunteers. The straw problems alone create a greater likelyhood of volunteer problems in future production years.

Then there is the GM event itself... that makes this flax tolerant to group 2 herbicides. Sucseeding crops must not include any of the herbicides that this flax is likely to be resistant to in the break years between the flax seed production.

WHAT a MESS.

[bucket]

Right Tom.

The fact they develop a rotationally retarded variety really makes one wonder who thinks this shit up.

Although,since I did learn that you can spray glean on conventional flax yesterday on that call, now I begin to wonder why they even pursued developing a flax that screws a farmers rotation.

[parsley]

Better yet, Triffid FP967 can be re-engineered, a teensy bit of gene tinkling, adding a dose of </p>
<p class="EC_style8ptBK"><strong>[URL="http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=93142708610"]( hemorrhagic septicemia)[/URL]</strong></p> Box the muffins for the military to drop in a war zone,in pretty boxes containing a dozen Triffids. Count the bodies in a week or so. A bit messy to clean up.

[wd9]

Oneoff, this is an issue under adventitious presence and LMO rules.

[oneoff]

Here is a report that give's someone else's view


Effective Date: 2/2/2010
Canadian Farmers Frustrated over Flax Issue

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Plenty of concern was expressed in a conference call yesterday over the handling of trace amounts of genetically modified material that have severely restricted exports to Canada’s largest flax market.



The call - organized by the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission - was an opportunity to update farmers on the current situation and provide a forum for questions.



Many of the farmers on the conference call questioned an industry plan that will require any flax earmarked for export to be planted with certified seed in 2010, a move designed to demonstrate to the EU that Canada is doing all it can to rid itself of Triffid, the GM variety that turned up in a EU shipment last year.



Farmers complained about the certified seed plan, contending it will drive up input costs, especially if their own farm-saved seed tests negative for Triffid. Additionally, farmers expressed concern that certified seed supplies might be limited.



Some also wondered aloud whether the use of certified seed would even solve the problem, as GM contamination has shown up in samples of flaxseed that was grown from certified seed in 2009. Another concern was the certified seed requirement would become permanent, with some producers indicating that the need for certified seed would dissuade them from planting the crop.



The EU, which typically accounts for about 70% of all Canadian flax exports, stopped importing the commodity in September, 2009 following the discovery of GM material in some shipments.



A protocol for the testing, sampling and documenting Canadian flaxseed - developed in conjunction with the EU - was implemented in October 2009. All flaxseed destined for the European market must now undergo rigorous testing. Other smaller markets, including Japan and Brazil, are also requiring testing protocols on Canadian flax.



Viterra flax merchant Quentin Stewart, who participated on the call, said the use of certified flax seed will not be an indefinite requirement.



“This is being done solely to try and rid the marketplace of Triffid, and more specifically to ensure that nothing going into the ground does in fact contain Triffid, so we can begin to weed this out as we go forward.”



“The cleaner we can get the seed, with the least likelihood of further Triffid contamination, the quicker we’ll get the doors reopened in a more sustainable commercial fashion,” added David Sefton, a director with the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission.



For those producers holding flaxseed supplies that have tested positive for Triffid, Stewart said Prairie grain companies are making every effort possible to find a market for it.



“If a producer does in fact have stock that contains Triffid, please do not panic in any capacity,” he said on the call. “We will take it. We will find a home for it.”



He added that industry is working to keep the price spread between GM-free flaxseed and supplies that have tested positive for Triffid as narrow as possible.


Source : DePutter Publishing Ltd.



Information contained herein is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed by the parties providing it. Syngenta, DePutter Publishing Ltd. and their information sources assume no responsibility or liability for any action taken as a result of any information or advice contained in these reports, and any action taken is solely at the liability and responsibility of the user.