Supply of neonic-treated seeds expected to be scarce this spring
Thursday, February 11, 2016
by SUSAN MANN
Farmers who failed to pre-order their neonicotinoid-treated seeds in the fall may find it difficult in the spring to get the products they want.
Stephen Denys, Pride Seeds vice president of sales and marketing, says for the 10 to 20 per cent of farmers who didn’t order seeds in the fall, the seed companies may not be able to fulfill all of their requests for neonicotinoid-treated seeds in the spring.
“If they haven’t ordered it (neonicotinoid-treated seed) by now, this year it will become more difficult, as we go into the spring, to access it,” he notes. “They need to talk to their seed supplier.”
Neonic IPM courses free until Aug. 31
Starting Aug. 31, farmers who want to do their own pest assessment and report to comply with provincial neonicotinoid regulations must successfully complete the new Integrated Pest Management (IPM) course being offered by the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus to perform the pest assessment and prepare a report.
The IPM course is being offered for free until Aug. 31, and the certificate farmers earn is valid for five years. Lynn Van Maanen of the university’s Ridgetown Campus says the cost for the program after Aug. 31 hasn’t been determined yet.
More than 600 IPM courses in both English and French have been scheduled to be held across Ontario. It takes half-day to complete in-class or two days online. Sign up information is available at: www.IPMcertified.ca or by calling 1-866-225-9020.
About 2,500 farmers already completed the course in December and January, Van Maanen says.
Grain Farmers of Ontario chair Mark Brock says courses are filling up fairly quickly. If there aren’t enough courses for farmers to take before the fee kicks in, he hopes the province will extend the deadline for waiving the program’s cost. “But I’ve never had that conversation with them yet.”
On Aug. 31, 2017, the government will begin to require professional pest advisers to do farmers’ soil pest assessment and report preparation. The requirement is being phased in “on a geographic basis to best target the regions with the greatest pollinator mortality rates,” according to a government fact sheet on the requirements for growers. BF |
The reason some farmers may find it hard to get their seed choices is because it’s virtually impossible for the seed companies to provide products on a just-in-time basis.
The seed companies must process seeds for “five or six different maturity ranges across Canada and each hybrid has five seed sizes,” Denys explains. “We have to do all of that in a timely fashion between October and February” to ensure farmers get their seeds when they’re ready to plant in the spring.
The companies are processing what has been ordered and then estimating the remaining demand for products, including for neonicotinoid-treated seeds, for the farmers who haven’t placed orders yet.
Denys says for soybean seeds, some retailers have seed treatment equipment to put neonicotinoids on those seeds. But for corn, the neonicotinoids are all coated on the seeds by the seed companies.
The new government rules governing the sales and use of neonicotinoid-treated corn seeds for corn grown for grain or silage along with soybean seeds came into effect July 1, 2015 and are being phased in over several years. The government’s aim is to cut the neonicotinoid-treated seed acreage in Ontario by 80 per cent by 2017.
Growers have some options in complying with the rules this year:
- Forego the paperwork required as part of the new rules and not use neonicotinoid-treated seeds.
- Plant neonicotinoid-treated seeds on 50 per cent or less of their total corn and soybean planted area to obtain an exemption from having to do a pest assessment.
- Conduct their own pest scouting, perform a pest assessment and prepare a report to obtain the go-ahead to plant treated seeds on more than 50 per cent of their total corn and soybean planting area.
Denys says before farmers using neonicotinoid-treated seeds take delivery, they must have their required paperwork done.
There are “a significant number of growers who have done the work required to be able to use a neonic,” he says.
A minority of growers is choosing to use another option released this year, a seed treatment that contains cyantraniliprole — a diamide group insecticide, he says. Because the insecticide is not a neonicotinoid, the new paperwork is not required to use it.
In soybeans, a number of growers have opted to use seeds treated with a fungicide only. If those farmers have problems with aphids or bean leaf beetle, they will be relying on foliar sprays, Denys notes. BF