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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MAY 2017


BC prepares to deliver clean vines National network will ensure virus-free grapevines


by SUSAN MCIVER OLIVER – The Canadian grape industry


recently took a leap forward with the incorporation of the Canadian Grapevine Certification Network. “The objective of the CGCN is to


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protect the Canadian grape and wine industry by ensuring a sustainable supply of certified propagative grapevine material,” says network chair and Oliver grape grower Hans Buchler. The network is the culmination of a collaborative effort between grape grower associations in BC, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The four provinces are home to 1,749 growers nationwide, tending 30,985 acres of vineyard. BC has 929 growers with 10,260 acres of vines. “The need for our own certification


program has been recognized for over 10 years, but it was difficult to get started,” says Buchler. To date, grape growers have relied on


certified material from France and the United States. “The material from the US has been cleaner than that from France,” says Buchler, noting that grapevine leafroll virus has been a particular concern. Similar initiatives to the Canadian


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network have a long history in the US. California’s industry worked with staff at UC-Davis to establish the California Grape Certification Association in 1952, and in 1961 Washington State University established its own foundation block. In 2008, a National Clean Plant Network formed. Washington requires growers to use only


Hans Buchler SUSAN MCIVER PHOTO


certified material, but many worked with uncertified material when supplies didn’t keep up. This increased the industry’s vulnerability to viruses that could devastate vineyards. While almost all grapevines in California are


grafted due to the presence of phylloxera, it has a limited presence in Washington and BC. Own-rooted vines are common in Washington, but many BC growers graft plant material onto rootstock to improve resistance to phylloxera and nematodes as well as to control vigour. “BC growers got used to planting grafted material because this is all that is produced in France and also because different rootstocks can control excessive vigour and advance maturity of the grape a little,” Buchler says. CGCN established a certification committee in early March that will develop standards and procedures for certifying plant material for


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grape growers. Committee members include growers, nurseries, researchers including José Urbez- Torres of the Summerland Research and Development Centre, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The certification committee expects to complete its work within the year. It will then obtain foundation material from CFIA’s Centre for Plant Health in Sidney. The centre provides virus-free plant material to nurseries across the country. The recent federal budget allocated $80 million to replace the facility ensure the ongoing health and competitiveness of Canada’s horticultural sector. The centre will send clean grapevines to nurseries across the country for propagation. In addition to its certification work, CGCN will administer national grape and wine research funding expected within the next agricultural policy framework. The current framework, Growing Forward 2, emphasizes sustainable agriculture but ends in 2018. The federal budget has promised details of the new policy framework in the coming months.


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