The 2016 CleanFARMS effort to collect old pesticides and livestock medication has yielded banner results in the Keystone province.
Manitoba farmers returned over 53,000 kilograms of obsolete and unwanted pesticides and 1,800 kilograms of various medications.
CleanFARMS, which operates the program, is a national plant science and animal health industry-led agricultural waste stewardship organization. Collections took place at 19 participating ag-retail locations throughout the province this past fall, the fourth collection campaign it has run in Manitoba.
“The CleanFARMS collection program provides farmers with an environmentally responsible way to dispose of unused or expired pesticides and livestock medications, and we look forward to more opportunities to be able to do this,” said Dan Mazier, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers, in a press release.
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Manitoba farmers have a long history of good stewardship practices. Since 1998, Manitoba farmers have returned more than 272,000 kilograms of obsolete pesticides.
“We are pleased with the success of this program in Manitoba,” said Barry Friesen, CleanFARMS’ general manager, in the same release.
The obsolete collection program is generally delivered in each province or region of the country every three years at no cost to farmers. The program will return to Manitoba in fall 2019. In between collections, farmers should safely store their unwanted pesticides and livestock medications.
