Province slates technical briefings on proposed neonic controls

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Grain Farmers of Ontario officials hope to get a clearer idea of how the Ontario government’s proposed regulations cutting neonicotinoid use on farms will work after attending upcoming technical briefings.

Representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs along with the Ontario Environment and Climate Change Ministry are hosting the briefings that will be open only to stakeholders, agriculture ministry spokesman Bryan Bossin says by email. The briefings are “taking place at different times.”  

The government’s proposal, posted on the environmental registry, calls for a reduction in the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seeds by 80 per cent by 2017. The draft regulation, if approved, would take effect by July 1. It creates a new class of pesticides under the Ontario Pesticides Act, Class 12 for corn and soybean seeds treated with neonicotinoid insecticides.

“Some neonicotinoid insecticides are toxic to bees and other beneficial insects,” the government’s March 23 press release says. “The government is taking a precautionary approach to limit the use of neonicotinoid treated seeds.” The proposed regulation establishes new rules for the sale and use of the treated seeds.

Mark Brock, Grain Farmers chair, says the organization discussed the government’s proposal released Monday with delegates on Wednesday as part of its regular delegates day semi-annual meeting held every year the following day after its March Classic meeting for the general membership. The March Classic was on Tuesday. About 121 delegates attended the Wednesday meeting.

The semi-annual meeting is open to the public in the morning but the afternoon session is just for delegates, he says. In the morning at the semi-annual meeting, Grain Farmers officials presented an overview of what the organization has done to date on pollinator health and gave delegates a summary of the proposed government regulation “as to how we see it to date.”

In the afternoon, “we closed the session and had a discussion around both of those topics,” Brock explains.

“The biggest thing that was left with us is we need some clarity” from both the provincial agriculture and environment/climate change ministries, he says. Delegates told Grain Farmers officials they need to know “how these regulations are meant to be brought in.” There were questions on how the third-party audit system and pest scouting would work along with why some insects are missing “off the threshold levels” and “questions around the number of pests in each scouting area,” he notes, adding delegates are concerned about how the regulation will impact their farms.

“If anything there was probably more questions than answers,” he says, noting he read the regulation through once already but it will probably have to read it through another two or three times before he can get a true understanding. So far, it looks like the proposed regulation will require a lot more paperwork from farmers, he says.

For added costs, farmers will have to pay for the services of a professional pest adviser annually to assess their need for the treated seeds. But the actual amount isn’t known yet. “There isn’t really an industry or a price sheet out there to put a value on that,” he says, adding who can do the pest assessment work needs to be clarified by government.

Currently there’s a lot of uneasiness among farmers, Brock says, “because frankly a lot of us just don’t really understand the regulation yet to know how it will impact us.”

The proposed regulation says once the regulation is fully phased in the pest assessment can’t be done by someone with a financial involvement in the farm. Brock says that looks like he can’t get his seed supplier to do the pest assessment “because they’re making money off me when I buy the seed.” BF