Pollinator Health Blueprint launched

by SUSAN MANN

A group composed of farmers and others studying pollinator health has proposed establishing one million acres of self-sustaining habitat on public lands and private farmland as part of its Ontario Pollinator Health Blueprint.

The Pollinator Task Force, assembled by Grain Farmers of Ontario, publicly released the blueprint Monday after forwarding a copy to Ontario’s agriculture ministry late last week, says Mark Brock, Grain Farmers chair. So far, the government hasn’t responded to the task force’s proposals, he notes.

Ontario government officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

UPDATE TUES. MARCH 10, 2015: In a statement released at 9 p.m. yesterday, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal said nearly 52,000 written submissions were received during the consultation period for the province’s Pollinator Health Action Plan and more than 400 people participated in consultation sessions.

“Evaluation of the feedback we received is ongoing, with current estimates showing 97 per cent of submissions in support of the proposal.

“There will be another opportunity for consultation, once the proposed regulation is made public in the coming weeks.” END OF UPDATE

Brock doesn’t think the blueprint will make the government “change their course. I think they do have some goals in mind that they’re going to go forward with. But there might be some opportunities to shape some of those goals with our plan.”

In November 2014 the government proposed implementing a regulatory system to restrict the sale and use of neonicotinoid seed treatments for corn and soybeans under the Ontario Pesticides Act. Public consultations closed Jan. 25. Grain Farmers and others oppose the government’s proposal.

Regulations are slated to be in place for July 1.

Brock says the idea of the pollinator habitat is to “create an environment and forage habitat for honey bees and wild pollinators.” For example on his farm, there are a couple of acres in a corner that’s difficult for him to get at. “I’d be willing to take some of that land and plant it to pollinator-friendly plants.”

The proposal calls for the creation of pollinator habitats in Ontario providing a sequence of continuous blooms throughout the seasons. A pollinator habitat registry would “capture community pollinator programs and identify pollinator habitat locations.” There could also be a fencerow recovery program, community-directed habitat incentive along with public land rehabilitation programs.

Brock says during the task force’s information gathering sessions this winter, “there was an overarching commitment by grains and oilseeds producers to help create that habitat.” But the idea for the proposal is to be flexible and not make it mandatory for farmers to keep sections of their farms in pollinator-friendly habitats forever.

The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association wants the government to stay on track with its original proposal. Association executive committee member and head of its issues management committee Dennis Edell says there are some nice ideas in the Pollinator Task Force’s proposal but the government first needs to reduce the amount of corn and soybean acreage grown with the pesticide-treated seeds.

Edell says neonicotinoid-treated seeds are used in almost all of the corn and 65 per cent of the soybean acres across Ontario “when in fact it may not even be needed” on all those acres.

As the government prepares proposed regulations, Edell says the beekeepers’ association is watching to ensure the plan to reduce the acreage planted with neonicotinoid-treated seeds by 80 per cent by 2017 is actually implemented.

Although the pollinator task force also calls for a reduction in the volume of neonicotinoid-treated seeds, it doesn’t list a number. Brock says “the reason why we didn’t use a number is sometimes people become so focused on the number they lose sight of the intent of the objective.” The task force’s objective in developing its blueprint “is to make sure there’s an improvement in pollinator health that still allows us to use the (neonicotinoid) seed treatment.”

 Edell says anything that delays the government from launching its restrictions this year is “another year of bees’ exposure to neonicotinoids and there’s going to be more residues in the ground that are going to affect bees,” he says.

Edell notes the Ontario public supports the position of the beekeepers association. In a March 5 press release, the beekeepers association says 97 per cent of the 50,000 responses the government received as part of its consultation to reduce neonicotinoid-treated seed acreage in Ontario were in favour of the government’s plan. Edell says the numbers came from the provincial agriculture ministry.

Meanwhile the task force looking into pollinator health is made up of Grain Farmers representatives, beekeepers, a certified crop adviser, an agricultural product retailer representative and a seed company official. The task force consulted with more than 900 farmers and received many presentations from stakeholder groups. The Blueprint outlines five key areas to enhance pollinator health in Ontario including:

• Habitat and nutrition.
• Pesticide exposure.
• Disease and parasites.
• Communication between beekeepers and farmers.
• Obtaining benchmarking data to determine pollinator and managing bee health along with farm pest threshold data.

To reduce the risk of pesticide exposure outside the hive, the pollinator task force recommends a “point of purchase” verification system for all purchases of insecticide treated seed that’s subject to audits. The task force also recommends:

• Mandatory training and licensing under the Grower Pesticide Safety course for all farmers who buy neonicotinoid-treated seed.
• Mandatory installation of equipment modifications on negative-air planters used to plant neonicotinoid-treated seeds to reduce dust emissions.
• Registration of all farms using neonicotinoid-treated seeds on Driftwatch. This voluntary communication tool, developed in the United States, enables crop producers, beekeepers and pesticide applicators to work together to protect specialty crops and apiaries.
• Transparent seed treatment pricing and education programs to ensure all farmers have access to untreated seed.

One way to reduce the risk of bee exposure to neonicotinoids is for seed companies to reduce the amount of the pesticide they put on the seeds. Brock says seed companies are already implementing those cuts. “I think we need to talk more about about a volume measurement of usage and not an acreage measure.”

There’s also a commitment to the idea of “using it (neonicotinoids) where we need to,” he explains.

The seed treatment is valuable to farmers because it enables them to use environmentally friendly farming practices, such as no-till, minimum tillage and cover crop planting to mitigate soil erosion, Brock says. Using no-till and minimum tillage also helps farmers to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and minimize their impact on the environment. BF