By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Friday March 18, 2022

Mar 18, 2022 | 11:47 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – An Ontario company is working on new biosecurity technology to help farmers deal with disease outbreaks.

Building on its existing farm health technology platform, Be Seen Be Safe Ltd. will research, test, and develop hardware that will allow real-time tracking and tracing of trailers.

Be Seen Be Safe Founder and President Tim Nelson said livestock and poultry disease outbreaks cost millions of dollars.

“Pathogens move on both people and vehicles, so the value of a robust vehicle track and trace system in managing outbreaks cannot be underestimated,” Nelson said. “Asset tracking devices are designed to provide real-time data on vehicle movements.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is providing roughly $113,000 to the company to test the effectiveness of tracking devices in preventing disease spread and reducing costs.

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After the trials are complete, the company will publish and distribute recommendations on the best-fit technology along with information on deployment.

By using data to monitor the movement of these vehicles, farmers can rapidly contain an outbreak, limit losses, and reduce the time it takes to return to normal business.

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A University of Saskatchewan (USask) project have been awarded funds to develop wheat plants with stronger genetic resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB).

Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC) Alliance is providing $825,000 to a large team lead by Dr. Randy Kutcher, along with Dr. Lipu Wang at USask’s Crop Development Centre.

Kutcher said FHB shrivels kernels in the grain, causing severe losses in yield and quality.

“Cultivating resistant wheat varieties is an efficient, eco-friendly and often most economical way to control FHB when it’s part of an integrated pest management program that includes crop rotation, appropriate seeding rates, and use of fungicides when the situation warrants,” said Kutcher.

He said the project will provide tools to accelerate plant breeding cycles and benefit the wheat industry.

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aalice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW