The federal and provincial governments have announced a $3.3-million investment from Canada's Economic Action Plan toward a Crop Pest Surveillance System for Alberta.The system aims to protect crops by improving early detection of harmful or economically significant pests by gathering data into one place, improving the accuracy of pest forecast maps and predicting outbreaks, said Paul Laflamme, head of the Pest Surveillance Branch.ìNobody in the province is gathering all that information together (in one place),î Laflamme said.Rather than hiring surveyors to collect data, the system will aggregate data voluntarily submitted by existing industry people (independent agrologists, farmers, and producers) who collect it for personal use.A toll-free pest hotline will be initiated across Alberta, allowing any noted abnormalities or outbreaks to be called in and documented.Industry contribution is estimated at $1.8 million, an estimated dollar value of volunteer collection, explained Laflamme.He gives the example of Bertha armyworm traps, of which about 125 are distributed provincewide.The time and cost for farmers to drive out to their field, pull the sticky cards from the trap, and count the armyworms is called an ìin-kindî contribution, he explained.Data provided from farmers in a county would be published on a township level or higher, so potential confidentiality issues would be avoided, said Laflamme.ìIt is collected from private individuals. We have to protect the people.îAdvisory groups comprised of appropriate industry professionals, government officials, and university professors will help determine where to spend the program's limited resources.But the program is still in its infancy.A project manager was recently hired and is determining what kind of system is required.ìThere's still a lot of work to be done.îLaflamme said he hopes a pilot project of the system will launch next year, with a fully operational system underway by 2013.
