Grain Farmers gets late September court date

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Grain Farmers of Ontario will be heading into Superior Court Sept. 28 asking for a temporary halt to the Ontario government’s implementation of new regulations governing the sales and use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds.

Chair Mark Brock says the board is disappointed it’s taking so long to get the stay (the request for a temporary suspension of the regulations) heard in court. At the same time “we’re happy our case will be heard on the 28th  (of September),” he notes.

When it launched the court challenge earlier this summer of the new rules that came into effect July 1, GFO was hoping to get into court either in July or early this month. In a June 29 press release, farmers were advised to monitor the case “as it is hoped relief from the regulations will come in the month of July prior to seed orders for 2016.”

GFO will be asking for the court to temporarily suspend the regulations until May 2016 or until its court case reviewing whether the regulations are workable can be heard.
Grain farmers and the industry have serious concerns about the whether the regulations are workable and “we believe it is critical that the regulations be thoroughly reviewed by the court,” Brock says in a June 29 press release.

In the meantime, the regulations are “law and farmers need to educate themselves on compliance,” GFO’s Aug. 18 release says.

“We’re encouraging our members to be informed and from our standpoint we have to abide by the law,” Brock notes.

The Ontario government is phasing in regulations on the sales and use of neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seeds over two years. Its goal is to cut the acreage where the treated seeds are used to 20 per cent by 2017.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change says on its website neonicotinoid-treated seeds are used on almost all of the corn and 60 per cent of the soybean acreage in Ontario. The ministry says the neonicotinoid insecticide is impacting pollinators and other organisms.

Questions about the regulations can be directed to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs or the environment ministry. BF