Ontario government sticks to schedule for neonic regulation changes

Thursday, April 30, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s government is moving full steam ahead to implement regulations under the Pesticides Act governing neonicotinoid-treated seeds early this summer despite a request by Grain Farmers of Ontario to extend the consultation deadline to June 30.

The deadline for comments on the proposed neonicotinoid seed-treatment regulation, posted on the Ontario Environmental Registry, is May 7 with the regulations slated to be in place by July 1. But in a letter to the government, Grain Farmers has asked for the deadline to receive comments to be moved to June 30 so farmers can get through their busy corn and soybean planting season in May and early June. The farm group also requested the government remove “any prejudgment on when they will implement their decision to show they are actually listening,” it says in a Grain Farmers press release.

“It’s unnecessary to force farmers to choose between planting Ontario’s crops or providing input for regulations that will dramatically impact their future,” Grain Farmers chair Mark Brock says in the release.

He adds the proposed regulations amount to a ban on treated seeds and they will impact nearly all of Grain Farmers’ 28,000 Ontario members, who grow both of the corn and soybean crops in rotation.

Ontario Environment and Climate Change Ministry spokesperson Kate Jordan says by email the ministry isn’t “looking at changing the closing date for the posting at this time.”

The government has already held extensive consultations to develop the discussion paper and the proposed regulations, she says, noting almost 65,000 comments were received on the discussion paper. She called that a record-breaking number and noted 97 per cent were in favour of the government’s plan to reduce farmers’ use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds.

 “In addition to the public consultation on the draft regulation through the environmental registry posting, last fall we consulted on the discussion paper and this spring we held stakeholder sessions on the draft regulations,” she says.

Farmers will also be given time to prepare for the regulations’ requirements as the proposal includes a phase-in period with farmers being able to purchase and use neonicotinoid-treated seeds for the 2016 growing season “in an amount not greater than 50 per cent of the land that will be planted for corn or soybeans,” she says.

Jordan declined to say how many comments have been received so far through the environmental registry posting because the posting “is still open and it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment.”

Meanwhile, Grain Farmers says in its release, the proposal to have the regulations in place by July 1 “would be a record fast” decision for the environment and climate change ministry compared to similar decisions. There is a seven-week time period between the end of the comment period on neonicotinoid-treated seed regulations and the implementation of the actual regulations. That’s 10 times faster than the ministry typically takes to consider less contentious matters, the release says.

Few ministry decisions, even the non-controversial ones, were made in less than six months, according to the release.

After attending a technical briefing hosted by the environment and climate change ministry along with the provincial agriculture ministry earlier this spring, Grain Farmers said in an April 9 release it strongly opposes the regulations and called them “unworkable.” The group also opposes “any action to move them forward.” Grain Farmers has many concerns, including the regulations’ pest assessment methods, the selection of pests identified as valid, the industry’s capacity to manage the requirements along with liability and insurance implications. BF