An advisory group picked from the private and public sectors of Canada’s potato industry has been set up to develop a new voluntary, nationwide farm-level biosecurity standard.
The group, set up by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency working with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Horticultural Council’s potato committee executive, other potato organizations and provincial departments of agriculture, has already agreed to specific terms of reference for the standard such as roles and responsibilities, time frames and process.
The standard, which is expected to complement existing farm-level programs, is to be developed over about two years, CFIA said in a release Friday.
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“Biosecurity,” for the purposes of this project, means “activities that minimize the risk of introducing and spreading disease and pests,” CFIA said.
Once complete, use of the standard will be voluntary, CFIA emphasized. Potato growers can then use the standard to design a new program or improve on disease and pest control programs they already have in place.
The standard, when completed, is expected to:
- provide a consistent approach across the country for identifying and reducing risks for transmitting disease and pests;
- facilitate advancements in industry’s identification and knowledge of the risks associated with pathogens and pests;
- identify outcomes to achieve, and measures that will support improved biosecurity practices; and
- help identify “potential gaps” in current control measures.
As part of the development process for this standard, a national benchmarking exercise with farm-level participation will take place, to help determine the current level of biosecurity implementation in the potato sector across the country, CFIA said.
This exercise is also expected to help identify best practices and provide an opportunity for producers to have input into developing the standard, the agency said.
The advisory group is to meet regularly during this process, CFIA said, and group members who represent industry will be encouraged to take information to stakeholders and to seek input from them during the process.
The provinces are also developing programs to help producers set up biosecurity measures, CFIA noted. Such commodity-specific programs are determined by each province.
