b'A look at seed industry developments around the globe.Canadian potato exportsSTATUS AUSTRALIA Grains Industry 3 (SAGI3)developed an action plan for from P.E.I. destined for theThe Grains Research andinvestment, which will finish inhow to handle discoveries Development CorporationJune 2022. moving forward. Potato wart U.S. halted, and countries(GRDC) is planning to investposes no threat to human in Sub- Saharan Africain the order of $25 million inhealth or food safety but is an innovative, new analyticsSTATUS CANADA known to decrease yield on fear that populations of aninvestment platform.After a push from thefarms. Its spread through the invasive insect responsibleThrough new analyticalAmerican government, themovement of affected pota-technologies and a new modelCanadian government hastoes, soil, and farm equip-for billions of dollars of lostfor research and develop- made the decision to haltment.harvests across dozensment partnership, the invest- all exports of potatoes from of African countries havement will set up AustralianPrince Edward Island to the grains research, developmentUnited States. The decisionSTATUS INDIAformed one intercontinentaland extension (RD&E)andhas the potato industry in P.E.I.The Rural Development super-population Australian grain growersforstunned as the U.S. representsAcademy (RDA)-Bogura the future. a $120 million annual market. in Bangladesh and the GRDC is seeking expres- Since the discovery ofInternational Rice Research sions of interest from tradi- potato wart in P.E.I. in 2000,Institute (IRRI) organized a tional and non-traditionalthere has not been a singleworkshop that strengthens partners for this new andincidence of potato wart inwomen farmers knowledge transformative investment,any markets, including theon proper seed certification Analytics for the AustralianU.S. and the rest of Canada,guidelines and seed quality Grains Industry (AAGI). attributable to Prince Edwardcontrol issues. Thirty women-GRDC Genetics andIsland potatoes. We have faithled farmers groups attended Enabling Technologiesin this plan, and so should ourthe seed quality control and General Manager Nicolegovernment who developedmarketing workshop in Narchi Jensen says AAGI will useit, the P.E.I. Potato Board saysVillage, Shahjahanpur sub-analytics including machinein a news release. district on November 8, 2021.learning (ML), artificial intel- Potato wart was discov- The workshop is an initia-ligence, data fusion and sta- ered in P.E.I. on Oct. 1 and 14tive under OneRice, a unified tistics to support innovation inon two different P.E.I. potatorice breeding strategy to grains RD&E investments forfarms by the Canadian Fooddevelop and deliver better rice Australian grain growers. Inspection Agency (CFIA)varieties faster to the farm-This new investmentCharlottetown Laboratory.ers in Africa and Asia, jointly is about pursuing the nextThe CFIA immediatelyimplemented by RDA and frontier of transformationallaunched an investigation andIRRI, in the Bogura, Joypurhat, gains for the grains industry.implemented strict regulatoryand Sirajgonj Districts.It is ambitious and bold, withmeasures to prevent potentialOneRice aims to identify the potential to deliver majorspread. On Nov. 2 seed potatothe needs of farmers in South changes for Australian grow- exports from P.E.I. to the U.S.Asia and Africa in terms of ers, Jensen said. were suspended. on-farm testing, advance-Over a decade ago, GRDCPotato wart is a fungusment from on-farm trials identified the value of invest- which has been present intowards dissemination, and ment in statistics for thesome continents for overbest-performing varieties. The Australian grains industry anda century and was firstidentified varieties are recom-AAGI will be a significant stepdetected in P.E.I. in 2000.mended to the stakeholders change in that approach. Since then, it has beenof the seed chain for promot-This new research willdetected in 33 fields there.ing and facilitating the avail-build on the foundationalThe Potato Wart Domesticability of appropriate seeds work done under the GRDCsLong-Term Management Planthrough collaborations and Statistics for the Australianwas established in 2021 whichcapacity building.74/ SEEDWORLD.COMJANUARY 2022'