Bees buzz GFO annual meeting

Sunday, September 8, 2013

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Bees keep buzzing around the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) decision to oppose the Ontario Beekeepers Association request for a ban on neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments, which beekeepers say are killing bees in Ontario. In opposing a ban, the GFO says it wants regulators to be guided by science.

The issue was raised at the GFO’s 2013 semi-annual meeting in London on March 19 when they resolved to “be directly involved with bee death research and any conclusions forthcoming.” The information that went along with the resolution said the GFO position is that “we have an excellent and well respected science-based regulatory system with PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency). We need to allow the scientists to do their work.”

At the organization’s annual meeting today, there were two resolutions touching on bees. One was in support of the GFO position. Delegates resolved that the GFO should continue “to support the pursuit of a true science-based solution to the Bee/Neonicotinoid seed-treatment issue.” That motion was passed.

A second motion – the only one of the day that was defeated – took aim at Farm and Food Care Ontario. The resolution, brought forward by District 14 (Prescott/Russell/Stormont/Dundas/Glengarry), argued that Farm and Food Care Ontario “was aware of the escalating situation between neosecticides and bee deaths and opted to stay neutral.”  Because of a perceived lack of support for the GFO, the resolution pushed the GFO to revisit their involvement in Farm and Food Care Ontario “as they do not reflect the interests of grain farmers in times of support due to the conflicting interests of their donors.”

Included in the information package supplied to delegates, Farm and Food Care Ontario made a pitch for their position. They said in the document that they applaud “the efforts of government, GFO, the Ontario Beekeepers Association, the University of Guelph and the PMRA researchers and other industry stakeholders to identify the factors detracting from healthy bee colonies in Ontario.”

John Cowan, GFO vice-president of strategic development, told the annual meeting’s delegates he has been preoccupied with the bee issue ever since it was first raised in May of 2012.

“Some people think we are against bees,” he said, adding that’s not the case. After the meeting – held at the site of the Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock – he said the issue is complex and demands study. He pointed to France where there has been an eight-year moratorium on neonicotinoids. “France,” he said, “has the most bee health problems.”

Ontario farmers who don’t want seeds with an insecticide coating will have the option in 2014 of buying seeds with both a fungicide and insecticide coating or seeds with just a fungicide.

Cowan said the Bee Health Committee struck by Ontario Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne has made some recommendations. He said the committee has decided “we need to do research on best management practices for both grain farmers and beekeepers and we need to know a lot more about an integrated pest management system.” BF