Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
for a combination of reasons. Perhaps the most important reason concerns the increased area
in which wheat is rotated with maize or other cereals. Other reasons are changes in the
cropping system for soil protection purposes and changes in wheat cropping from traditional
to more humid, non-traditional areas (McMullen et al., 1997; Gilchrist and Dubin, 2002).
Among the data reported in the table, the highest DON contaminations are reported in
Michigan (20000 μg/kg in 2004), England (10626 μg/kg in 2003), Russia (8600 μg/kg, year
not specified) and Argentina (8440 μg/kg, year not specified). The data from Africa (Kenya
and Morocco) and from China show the lowest range of contamination, but these regions of
the world are so large that more data would be needed to characterize their DON
contamination in wheat.
2.2. Economic Impact
The economic costs of FHB and mycotoxins are very difficult to accurately determine, as
so many factors are involved and all of the indirect effects are almost impossible to take into
account. In general, economic losses in wheat due to FHB can be attributed to i) yield loss
due to fungal disease and to ii) reduced technological and nutritional quality of wheat grain.
Invasion of kernels by Fusarium spp. destroys the starch granules, storage proteins and cell
wall, thus affecting grain quality. The embryo is usually not infected except in heavily
invaded kernels. However, slightly infected kernels with apparently uninfected embryos
exhibit reduced germination and vigour (Bechtel et al., 1985; Snijders, 1990). Economic
losses due to DON contamination can be attributed to i) reduced crop value due to mycotoxin
contamination, ii) losses in animal productivity due to mycotoxin-related contamination, iii)
human health costs. Moreover, prevention, monitoring, sampling, chemical analysis,
litigation, mitigation, and research costs also need to be taken into account.
Losses in quality lead to additional costs related to marketing, processing and exports.
For instance, the milling industries purchase various classes of wheat for specific milling or
baking purposes; therefore, high-quality grain is necessary for high prices, and grain that does
not meet the minimum standards is docked to a lower grade and the producer receives a lower
price (Windels, 2000). The differentiation of wheat grain quality has three main effects: 1)
additional costs related to the separation of grain consignments into different lots; 2) the
adaptation of all of the productive process in different production lines based on high/low
quality products and their destination (industry, foods, feeds, etc.); and 3) price effects due to
a reduction in high-quality grain supply.
In principle, reductions in wheat grain supply due to yield loss or to quality classification
tend to increase future prices, but the beneficiaries of high price premiums for milling-quality
grains are only the producers who have high-quality wheat, while a larger share of production
may be discounted because of poor quality (Johnson et al., 1998).
Therefore, the economic impact of FHB and DON contamination is shared by all of the
subjects in the productive chain up to the consumer: crop producers, animal producers, grain
handlers, distributors, processors, consumers and society in general, because all of these costs
contribute to elevate the final price (Charmley et al., 1994). Thus, the economic impact of
FHB and DON is really difficult to quantify as so many factors should be taken into account,
but some models have been proposed to estimate FHB and DON costs within limited
contexts.
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