Legal process 'taking more time than anticipated' Grain Farmers of Ontario says

Friday, August 7, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Grain Farmers of Ontario is hoping next week it will hear a court date for its challenge of the provincial government’s new rules on the sales and use of neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seeds.

In its application asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for an interpretation of the regulations that came into effect July 1, GFO had the date of Aug. 4 for the matter to be heard in court. But GFO spokesperson Meghan Burke said that date “has now come and gone. We have continued the (legal) process. It’s just taking more time than anticipated.”

GFO chair Mark Brock said in a June 29 press release “there are numerous areas of serious concern for farmers and the grain industry within these regulations and we believe it is critical that the regulations be thoroughly reviewed by the court.”

Along with asking for the court’s interpretation, GFO wants the regulations’ implementation date moved to May 1, 2016 or a time when the requirements of the new rules “can reasonably be met,” the release says.

The government’s regulations aim to reduce the acreage where farmers use neonicotinoid-treated seeds by 80 per cent by 2017. Currently the seed treatment is used on almost all of the corn and about 60 per cent of the soybeans grown in Ontario, according to information on the website of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. The two crops are grown on about 2.5 million acres each in Ontario.

“A recent review of 800 peer-reviewed scientific papers by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Task Force on Systemic Pesticides indicated that neonicotinoid insecticides are having impacts on pollinators and other organisms, such as birds, earthworms and aquatic invertebrates,” the ministry’s website said.

As for farmers wanting to order seeds for the 2016 growing season, Burke said they “should follow the law. I hope we have some more answers next week.”

GFO “is still optimistic that we’re moving in the right direction,” she said. BF