I don’t mean pests, diseases and weeds. For any producer, those are perennial challenges that will wax and wane with weather and pest pressure.

I speak instead of the regulatory and legal fronts, where as you will read in our May 27 issue, key products for Canadian farmers are under attack.

In our crops section front, AgCanada.com’s Dave Bedard delves into a regulatory revision for one popular neonicotinoid pesticide, imacloprid, that will essentially eliminate its use for several purposes, including seed treatment for field corn and in-furrow applications for potatoes. Vegetable and horticulture producers are even harder-hit, losing it for several key applications.

It’s better than the outright ban that several environmental groups had been hoping for, but it’s still a sharp setback, and worryingly, could raise public expectations for similar action against other products.

In a joint response to the Health Canada decision, a number of these groups protested the regulator hadn’t gone nearly far enough and had ignored data from another arm of the federal government.

“Five years ago, PMRA’s assessment showed imidacloprid posed unacceptable risks to aquatic insects based on water monitoring data from Environment and Climate Change Canada. So what happened to make them acceptable today?”, they enquired.

And down in the U.S., another black eye hit the crop-protection sector in the form of a recommendation from a U.S. judge who, as part of a $2 billion settlement to resolve future claims that Roundup causes cancer, told Bayer it should put a voluntary warning label on the product.

“For years I’ve been wondering why Monsanto wouldn’t do that voluntarily to protect itself,” said U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.

Bayer had recently fought tooth and nail to overturn an attempt by California to slap a cancer warning label on the product, so such a voluntary move is unlikely.

But that didn’t deter Chhabria, who said a label would prevent lawsuits going forward and could free up money that could be used to create a better settlement offer for people already exposed, Reuters reported.

Clearly, the ground is shifting for crop-protection products. Already under the microscope, they’re facing legal tests that are more often finding liability and a growing desire from the public and environmental groups to further curtail their use.

That’s going to mean even more scrutiny in the coming years, and an even greater need to practise appropriate stewardship while using these products.

One good place to start would be the old idea of the economic threshold. In a year with high prices, it’s tempting to make ‘insurance’ applications that will protect those valuable bushels, and in the short term, it makes economic, if not environmental, sense. A few dollars in chemical can protect a lot of dollars in yield.

But when it comes to stewardship, short-term thinking is the enemy of progress. One must view things over the longer timeline, and consider the compounding costs.

The science does support some of the environmentalists’ concerns. Regulatory agencies have been willing, so far, to support the continued use of certain products — provided they are used as directed. That’s an important caveat for farmers to consider when making decisions about how and when they apply them.

Most farmers do take their environmental responsibilities seriously, but there’s another component they should take even more seriously. In their case, stewardship also means doing everything they can to ensure they still have access to the products that work for them.

That’s going to mean it’s important to take a two-pronged approach to reaching that goal.

Through their associations and value-chain groups, they’re going to have to collectively insist on rigorous scientific standards for making decisions about products. But that’s a double-edged sword that will require them to accept when the science goes against them.

Individually, on their farms, farmers will need to take the steps to ensure they’re following the rules and using the products only where necessary. That means adhering to the grain sector’s “Keep it Clean” campaign and always having stewardship in mind.

This is one way of securing the sector’s voice as a credible one when costs and benefits of these products are evaluated.

It’s in everyone’s interest to ensure that we have an affordable supply of safe and nutritious food that’s been produced sustainably. Farmers have a key role to play.

The post Editor’s Take: Crop protection under fire appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Producers will still have access to most imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam uses following the April 11 ruling.

In 2016, the federal government announced plans to phase out imidacloprid over three to five years, based on unacceptable risks to aquatic insects.

Proposed crackdowns on clothianidin and thiamethoxam, which Health Canada found posed a similar risk, quickly followed. Both pesticides were also slated to be phased out.

Health Canada later separated the debate between aquatic insect and pollinator risk.

The resulting stream of 2017 and 2018 proposals — based around pollinator risk — gave a more lenient tone.

Why it matters: Three neonicotinoid pesticides have final decisions from Health Canada, and both beekeepers and crop growers seem happy, but another round of decisions with heavier consequences is yet to come.

Health Canada proposed to cancel clothianidin for strawberry and orchard use and limit application on crops like melon and squash, but left other agricultural uses largely unchanged.

Thiamethoxam was slated for cancellation on foliar application in orchards and soil use for berries, melons, squash and fruiting vegetables — as well as a ban on foliar spray on berries, legumes and fruiting vegetables during bloom.

Imidacloprid, meanwhile, would be cancelled for some foliar applications (pome fruit, some tree nuts, most small berries and fruit) and soil uses (legumes, herbs, berries), but maintained its use for strawberries and potato, except during bloom. All three had added label requirements for cereal or legume seed treatments.

Those decisions largely echoed Health Canada’s final word on pollinator risk on April 11. The April decisions will have no impact on canola growers or seed treatment in potatoes, and foliar application in potatoes will still be allowed, although not while plants are in bloom. Thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, likewise, will still be allowed for seed treatment in soybeans and peas, although not for foliar treatment during bloom and thiamethoxam is limited to foliar use after soybeans are done blooming.

“Bloom is a little bit of a hazy term with potatoes,” Leonard Rossnagel, a retired potato agronomist and previous director with the Manitoba Seed Potato Growers Association, said, pointing to varietal differences in bloom.

Very few neonicotinoids are sprayed on a growing crop of potatoes anyway, he said.

Manitoba’s beekeepers say they’re happy canola growers skirted restrictions.

“One of our fears was that canola growers were not going to be planting as much canola,” Manitoba Beekeepers Association president Mark Friesen said. “That’s always a concern. This won’t be a hindrance to them.”

“Not to say that we don’t want to see less pesticides on a crop,” he added. “We always want to see less pesticides on a crop.”

The beekeeping association also praised new changes in application timing.

There’s little pollination impact between bees and potatoes, according to Friesen.

“That being said, potatoes are the No. 1 overspray risk for crops in Manitoba and other areas,” he said, although he noted that improved practices have limited bee loss on potatoes.

Other shoe?

Growers aren’t celebrating just yet.

While final, Health Canada has said that the April 11 decisions are based only on risk to pollinators and are separate from risk to aquatic insects, one of the main concerns that prompted the proposed phase-out in 2016.

Decisions based on aquatic insect risk are expected in January 2020.

“These final decisions will not replace the pollinator decisions announced on April 11, 2019,” Health Canada said in an emailed statement. “If mitigation is required (e.g. cancellation of uses or restrictions to applications), it will be in addition to the cancellations and changes required to protect pollinators.”

Those 2020 decisions may yet curb most agricultural use of those chemicals. The department released proposed changes based on aquatic insect risk in August 2018. Those changes would cancel all outdoor crop use of thiamethoxam and clothianidin. Health Canada has said imidacloprid is also still up for cancellation for most agricultural uses, based on aquatic insect risk.

“Until that decision comes through, I don’t think the industry is breathing too much of a sigh of relief,” Rossnagel said. “We might call this one a hurdle.”

Impact so far

The debate over imidacloprid is unlikely to hobble the potato industry, Rossnagel said. The chemistry has become unpopular in potato use, although clothianidin and thiamethoxam are widely used as seed treatments.

Both are key in Colorado potato beetle control, something that has been of increasing concern in Manitoba, although producers have noted resistance issues with those chemistries.

Manitoba’s U-pick, fruit and vegetable farms may be harder hit by the April 11 decisions. Health Canada maintained its proposal to cancel foliar use in apple orchards for all three pesticides, as well as soil use for many berry crops and fruiting vegetables. The changes also cancelled foliar application of clothianidin in strawberries, and banned foliar use for many crops during bloom.

The decision will impact vegetable and fruit growers, the Canadian Horticultural Council says. It added that it will be working with growers during Health Canada’s two-year transition period.

The post More debate yet to come on neonics appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

There will be no new significant restrictions beyond those announced last year, Health Canada said April 10 in its final decision on its review of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiameth­oxam.

The department said it will proceed with cancelling some uses of the products and setting rules on the timing of applications as proposed in 2017 and 2018. However, permitting them for treatment of crop seeds and greenhouse vegetables “… is not expected to pose unacceptable risks to bees and other pollinators.”

The re-evaluations of the three products by the Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) considered hundreds of scientific studies, from both manufacturers and published literature. Can­cellations and new restrictions will be implemented over a two- to three-year period,

Pierre Petelle, CropLife Canada president and CEO, said the decision amounted to a reaffirmation of the safety of the products for seed treatment and many other uses.

“PMRA’s re-evaluation decision confirms that in the vast majority of cases, neonics can be used effectively by farmers without unnecessary risk to pollinators,” he said.

He added the products have improved agricultural sustainability and limit exposure to non-target organisms through precise applications onto the seed.

However, he added, many farmers, particularly in the horticulture sector will be severely impacted by the restrictions that are coming. “In many cases, there are no viable alternatives to neonics to control certain insect pests and removing neonics for growing certain horticulture crops like apples and cherries may jeopardize the viability of certain types of fruit and vegetable production in Canada,” he said.

The Canadian Horticultural Council, which represents fruit and vegetable growers, said farmers are aware of the importance of pollinators.

“Growers do not make decisions that would hurt their pollinators,” the organization said in a statement, noting it would work with members to ease the transition period. Most uses on root and tuber vegetables, including potatoes, remain unchanged.

Most changes will come into effect over the next two years while in some cases an additional year is being granted to find workable alternatives to treating pests, CHC said.

It is also watching the general re-evaluation of imidacloprid, and the aquatic invertebrate special reviews of clothianidin and thiamethoxam due out in the next year.

In 2014, Health Canada implemented risk mitigation measures to help protect bees and other pollinators from exposure to neonicotinoid-contaminated dust that occurs from planting treated seeds. With these risk mitigation measures in place, the number of bee incidents in 2014, 2015 and 2016 were 70 to 80 per cent lower than in 2013.

There has been a continued decline in the number of incidents reported during planting in 2017 and 2018.

“Other factors such as favourable weather conditions might have contributed to the reduction in bee incidents, including deaths,” Health Canada said.

As for population declines in pollinators, “no single factor has been identified as the cause,” the department said in 2018. “The available science suggests that multiple factors acting in combination may be at play, including loss of habitat and food sources, diseases, viruses and pests, and pesticide exposure.” Health Canada is examining the information collected in an attempt to answer these questions.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture said PMRA’s approach to clothianidin and thiamethoxan showed major flaws in the re-evaluation and special review process.

“Decisions are increasingly based on overly conservative assumptions and under strict timetables and do not reflect what is happening in the field,” CFA said. “These assumptions put Canadian growers at risk of losing valuable tools to address disease and insect pressures – tools that our international competitors will continue to access.”

The post No new major neonic restrictions: Health Canada appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Health Canada said as much Thursday as it released its final re-evaluation decisions for three neonic pesticides — re-evaluations dealing specifically with the products’ potential impacts on bees and other pollinators.

The department’s assessments of the three neonics — clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam — show “varying effects on bees and other pollinators from exposure to each of these pesticides.”

For those reasons, Health Canada said, its final decision calls for outright cancellation of some uses of the three neonics, mainly affecting the horticulture and tree fruit sectors.

For some other uses, the department plans to change conditions of use, such as “restricting the timing of application” and adding new “label statements” for uses such as cereal seed treatments.

Uses such as canola seed treatments and on greenhouse vegetables “are not expected to pose unacceptable risks to bees and other pollinators,” the agency said Thursday.

Crop protection industry group CropLife Canada hailed much of Health Canada’s announcement Thursday, saying it “affirm(s) the safety of neonics as a seed treatment and for many other uses.”

The department’s decision “confirms that in the vast majority of cases, neonics can be used effectively by farmers without unnecessary risk to pollinators,” CropLife CEO Pierre Petelle said in a statement via email.

Grain Farmers of Ontario CEO Barry Senft, in a separate statement, noted growers in that province “take several steps to protect pollinators on their farms and (Health Canada’s) decision shows that these efforts are working, as is the regulatory system that works to protect human health and the environment.”

Health Canada has been re-evaluating the three neonics since 2012 to” address growing concerns around bee health” and issued proposed decisions for clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in December 2017, May 2018 and December 2017, respectively.

Neonic seed treatments, Petelle said, “represent an incredible innovation that has improved agricultural sustainability and limited exposure to non-target organisms due to the very precise application of the product on the seed.”

However, he warned, the planned new restrictions and cancellations Health Canada announced Thursday will leave many growers, particularly in the hort sector, “severely impacted.”

In many cases, he said, for those growers, “there are no viable alternatives… to control certain insect pests and removing neonics for growing certain horticulture crops like apples and cherries may jeopardize the viability of certain types of fruit and vegetable production in Canada.”

The decisions

For clothianidin, Health Canada’s final pollinator decision will cancel foliar application on orchard trees and strawberries and on municipal, industrial and residential turf sites. It also limits the number of foliar applications on cucurbit vegetables to one per season.

Also, “additional label statements” will be required for clothianidin seed treatment of cereal crops.

For imidacloprid, the final pollinator decision will cancel foliar application to pome fruit, stone fruit, certain tree nuts with “high pollinator attractiveness,” lavender and rosemary. It will also cancel soil application on legume, fruiting, and cucurbit vegetables when grown outdoors; herbs harvested after bloom; small fruit and berries (caneberry; bushberry; low-growing berry; berry and small fruit vine excluding grapes); and ornamentals that are “attractive to pollinators and planted outside.”

The department would also prohibit foliar spraying of imidacloprid before or during bloom on fruiting vegetables, herbs that are harvested after bloom, legume vegetables (broad beans, fava beans andVicia faba), berry crops (with renovation after harvest for woody berries), and tree nuts apart from those with high pollinator attractiveness.

Also, additional label statements will be required for imidacloprid seed treatment of cereal and legume crops.

For thiamethoxam, Health Canada proposes to cancel foliar and soil application on ornamental crops “that will result in pollinator exposure” — in other words, crops that are planted outdoors and attractive to pollinators. It will also cancel soil application for berry crops, cucurbit crops and fruiting vegetables, and foliar application to orchard trees.

Health Canada will also prohibit spraying of thiamethoxam before or during bloom in foliar application on legume and outdoor fruiting vegetables, and on berry crops, with “renovation required” for woody berries. Foliar application on sweet potato and potato would not be allowed during bloom.

Also, “additional label statements” for thiamethoxam will be required for seed treatments of cereal and legume crops.

Risks ‘not imminent’

Health Canada proposes to put all the above risk mitigation measures in place over a 24-month period. “The risks identified (to pollinators) are not considered imminent because they are not expected to cause irreversible harm over this period,” the department said.

Members of the public have 60 days from the final decisions’ publication date to file any notices of objection, Health Canada said.

The department also noted Thursday it already put risk mitigation measures in place in 2014 to help protect bees and other pollinators from exposure to neonic-laden dust kicked up during planting of treated seeds.

With the risk mitigation measures in place from 2014 onward, Health Canada said Thursday, the number of bee incidents in 2014, 2015 and 2016 were 70-80 per cent lower than in 2013. Further decline was seen in the number of incidents reported during planting in 2017 and 2018.

Health Canada on Thursday also granted that “other factors” such as favourable weather conditions might have also contributed to the reduction in bee “incidents” and bee deaths in the crop years since 2014.

Phase-outs still proposed

All this said, the agency’s final pollinator re-evaluation decisions have no bearing on Health Canada’s separate ongoing evaluations of the “potential risks to aquatic insects” from the use of neonics.

Final decisions on those evaluations are expected at the end of this year, Health Canada said Thursday — but the department also reiterated that current research shows neonics are “detected frequently in waterbodies at levels that could be harmful to certain aquatic organisms.”

Health Canada in 2016 proposed a phase-out of most uses of imidacloprid over three to five years after a routine re-evaluation by its Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) found imidacloprid showing up at levels harmful to certain aquatic insect populations such as mayflies and midges — a “critical food source” for fish, birds and other animals.

Special reviews for both clothianidin and thiamethoxam were announced in the wake of those findings on imidacloprid. Those reviews, released last summer, found both pesticides being measured at levels harmful to aquatic insects.

As a result, Health Canada also proposed last summer to cancel all outdoor (that is, non-greenhouse) agricultural and turf uses for clothianidin, and all outdoor agricultural and ornamental uses for thiamethoxam, over three to five years, depending on availability of alternatives.

In Canada, clothianidin is marketed by Bayer as insecticides and seed treatments under brand names including Poncho, Prosper, Titan and Sepresto and by Nufarm as NipsIt.

Thiamethoxam products include Cruiser and Helix, marketed by Syngenta, while imidacloprid is sold mainly by Bayer under brands such as Admire, Gaucho, Concept and Intercept. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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As it happens, the re-evaluation of pesticides is a legal requirement and it was during a periodic routine re-evaluation that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) discovered new information about neonics. The concern over possible consequences to human health and the environment eventually led to the proposal to ban them.

The federal legislation that governs these products is the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA), overseeing pesticide registration and re-evaluations, according to Pratisara Bajracharya, Manitoba Agriculture’s pesticide minor use and regulatory specialist.

Speaking to the Manitoba Agronomist’s Conference earlier this winter she explained that under the PCPA, every product is re-evaluated every 15 years.

“It ensures that the current standards for environment safety and human health is preserved or are met, and it incorporates any new information that may be available since the product was registered or last re-evaluated,” Bajracharya said.

“These re-evaluations take into account those factors and make necessary changes on pesticide product labels.”

There are six steps to the re-evaluation process and it’s not speedy. The first four phases involve collecting information, scientific assessment, a decision proposal and update assessment and can take up to four years to complete. The last two stages, final decision and implementation, can take an additional two to three years.

“As soon as PMRA comes out with a decision, there’s still product in the market so it doesn’t automatically vanish,” says Bajracharya. “In order to allow that product to gradually be phased out, PMRA normally allows two to three years from the time the final decision is made to when the product is actually allowed to be used for the last time in Canada.”

Reviewing the science

At the information collection stage, PMRA contacts various stakeholders to gather any new information about the product or its use. Probably the most important step is the science assessment, which looks at the data, including existing scientific literature from other jurisdictions and regulatory agencies.

“A few examples of risk assessment could be dietary risk — so residue in food — or a risk from any concentration of the pesticide being found in drinking water, or in environmental situations where it may be doing a pollinator assessment or an aquatic invertebrate assessment like we saw in the case of neonicotinoids,” says Bajracharya.

The proposed decision stage takes all this data and if a problem has been identified, will propose changes to mitigate the risk, such as additional label requirements or discontinuation of a product. As an example, PMRA came out with a proposed decision to discontinue or phase out the neonic insecticide imidacloprod (often used as a seed treatment) due to a threat to pollinators and aquatic insects. A 90-day public consultation period follows the publishing of the proposed decision.

“At this stage when consultation is happening on a final document, you can only comment with significant scientific data,” says Bajracharya. “At this stage, if you do not like PMRA’s decision they probably won’t listen to you unless you have solid scientific information to support your claim.”

Neonics under the microscope

Over the past years, three different neonic products commonly used in Manitoba and Canada have been proposed for discontinuation: imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin, and another, acetamiprid is currently being re-evaluated.

“With neonicotinoid re-evaluations, it began with imidacloprid, it was a cyclical re-evaluation and started as a pollinator issue. But with more study, it was found that seed treatments were perhaps safe if used according to the label direction and with proper mitigation measures in place, but that was not the case for foliar applications,” says Bajracharya. “However, another risk was identified. PMRA said it was finding imidacloprid at concentrations that were toxic to aquatic invertebrates.”

That triggered special reviews for clothianidin and thiamethoxam specifically for aquatic invertebrate assessments.

The 15-year-cycle re-evaluations are mandated by PMRA but special reviews only happen when a particular risk is identified in an OECD country or through PMRA’s other evaluations, so this is how special reviews for clothianidin and thiamethoxam were initiated.

The imidacloprid re-evaluation was largely based upon data from Eastern Canada, and the concern at the time was that the use patterns in Eastern versus Western Canada were different and for different crops.

“We use more seed treatments in our crops versus more foliar applications in the East,” said Bajracharya. “So, there were concerns that all of these neonicotinoid products may be discontinued or proposed to be discontinued.”

In 2017 and 2018 the Province of Manitoba conducted a water quality monitoring program and submitted the data to PMRA.

“We were finding that there were detections for neonics but not an alarming level of incidences from what PMRA was proposing as thresholds,” said Bajracharya.

Despite the new data, PMRA’s proposal continues to be discontinuation of neonics.

“PMRA has said that it does not think that the risks to aquatic invertebrate posed by the neonicotinoid insecticides at the current level at which they’re being detected in water is acceptable,” said Bajracharya. “Unfortunately, 2017 and 2018 were dry years in Manitoba and all across the Prairies, so PMRA felt like it did not adequately represent the environmental conditions in the Prairies and honestly, when you’re talking about Prairies, there aren’t a lot of risk mitigation measures, and the mitigation measures that exist, we don’t really know if they work at this point. So, these are some of the reasons why (neonics are) currently being proposed to be discontinued.”

The post How and why: What drove the proposed neonic ban? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

They’ve signalled their intention to grill Health Canada and the Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) over their plans to eliminate the use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam over the next three to five years because they pose a threat to aquatic insects.

Consultations with government officials are to run until the end of November and could become even sharper if Health Canada goes ahead with its scheduled announcement later this month it will proceed with a phase-out of imidacloprid, the third neonic registered for use in Canada because it’s a danger to aquatic insects and pollinators.

“Sustainable production and science-based decisions about risk are the foundation of our industry,” said Brian Innes, vice-president of public affairs for the Canola Council of Canada. Clothianidin and thiamethoxam “are very important for our growers, and without viable alternatives, the ban will significantly impact the canola sector.”

The council is concerned about the loss of these two neonics because it would lead to lower yields and increase the risks for growers from flea beetles. A study published in 2017 based on European growers’ experience without these products showed that growers faced an increased risk of insect damage, had lower yields and, as a result, seeded less canola.

“With more than 22 million acres of canola in Canada in 2018, banning these plant protection tools would have a dramatic impact,” the council said. “These products have been responsibly used by canola producers as a seed treatment to control pests as part of their integrated pest management programs.”

The Canadian Horticulture Council said it was disappointed “to be potentially losing two valuable crop protection tools, leaving many growers with limited options. We hope that the PMRA will use real-use data when making its final decision, and that it will consider growers’ critical need for safe, effective crop protection products that allow them to offer locally produced quality fruit and vegetables for Canadian consumers.”

Pulse Canada said it will take its concerns about a lack of alternatives into the consultations while Grain Growers of Canada has said it will comment further on the phase-out when it has completed its review of the mid-August announcement.

Pierre Petelle, CropLife Canada president and CEO, said, “There are some alternatives available for some crop/pest combinations, but not alternatives for all of them. We haven’t had an opportunity to review to provide more details, but it’s essential that farmers have a variety of tools to help them manage pest pressures.

“Pesticides are registered to address specific pest problems and when it comes to insects, they may only be effective on certain phases of the insect’s life cycle and/or under specific crop and climate conditions,” he said. “Furthermore, from a product stewardship perspective, having only one tool to manage a pest could lead to issues with resistance.

“This is why we advocate for farmers to have many tools in their tool box and why our members invest significantly into research and development of new products. Our concern is that these investments into research and development could be jeopardized in the future if such a modern class of insecticides with extremely low toxicity to humans and animals is not passing the PMRA’s assessment.”

When asked about agriculture concerns about the lack of alternatives to the two neonics, Health Canada said seven products were registered for most uses of clothianidin and thiamethoxam. It is currently consulting stakeholders on the suitability of these registered alternatives to these neonicotinoids. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s multi-stakeholder forum is also examining available alternatives.

The final decision will consider what to do “if no suitable alternatives to the use exist, as long as the human health and environmental risks, as well as value of the pesticide, are considered to be acceptable,” Health Canada said.

While the introduction of best management practices during the planting of corn and soybeans in Ontario, which is where the controversy over neonics began, has greatly reduced bee deaths, the department said it’s not convinced BMPs would correct the threat to aquatic insects.

It considered data for the 2017 season submitted by the Environmental Monitoring Working Group in its reviews of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, along with monitoring data available from other sources. They included “reports on potential risk mitigation measures such as methods for spray drift reduction and the use of vegetative filter strips to help reduce run-off into water bodies. These were also considered in the assessment of the special reviews.

“While other options are available, at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that these proposed measures for the continued use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam will be sufficiently protective of aquatic insects.”

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The department said May 31 that an updated pollinator assessment by the Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency found that while the risks to human health are acceptable, the insecticide poses environmental threats to aquatic insects and pollinators.

The department plans consultations on these findings ending Aug. 29 before making its final decision in December 2018 to phase out agriculture and most other outdoor uses of imidacloprid over three to five years, starting in 2019.

The decision came despite the department’s acknowledgment that “There has been a 70 per cent to 92 per cent decrease in reported bee deaths or other adverse effects since Health Canada implemented previous actions to protect bees from the dust from the planting of corn and soybean seeds treated with neonicotinoids.”

Imidacloprid is a seed treatment that is used on cereals and crops such as peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas. There are also foliar and soil applications that occur in horticultural crops.

• Read more: EU nations back ban on all outdoor neonic use

Rebecca Lee, executive director of the Canadian Horticultural Council, said, “The loss of imidacloprid use on vegetables, pome fruit, stone fruit, small fruit and berries is extremely discouraging and puts Canadian fruit and vegetable farmers at a serious competitive disadvantage.

“Imidacloprid is of critical importance to our industry, especially given the lack of available alternative products for farmers to turn to for insect pest management,” she said.

The horticultural sector wants to minimize environmental impacts and protect bees and pollinators, she said.

“Our farmers have a unique and important relationship with pollinators, and often work closely with beekeepers who provide the essential pollination that many fruits and vegetables require,” she said.

Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, said the phase-out is a concern.

“In some cases, such as wireworm infestation, the only viable alternative available is cultivation,” he said. “Not only will this impose additional costs on farmers, it will have a significant negative environmental impact as increased cultivation will reduce soil organic matter, release carbon that has been sequestered through conservation tillage practices and increase the risk of soil erosion.”

Mac Ross, manager, market access and trade policy with Pulse Canada, said while the latest Health Canada announcement only mentions risk mitigation measures to prevent dust creation during planting of dry peas, dry bean, fababean, lentil and chickpeas, the department’s goal is to phase out imidacloprid.

He said the department will be reminded during the consultation of Pulse Canada’s submission to PMRA of the importance of the neonic insecticide as a tool in sustainable cropping systems. The group also wants “additional information and clarification on the proposed phase-out, with a focus on the data, assumptions and modelling undertaken by the PMRA in assessing the risk of imidacloprid to aquatic invertebrates.”

Paul Thiel, vice-president, product development and regulatory science, Bayer Crop Science, said Canadian farmers depend on neonicotinoid insecticides due to their efficacy, their safety to applicators and their favourable environmental profile, when used according to label instructions.

“These insecticides have helped farmers and homeowners manage destructive insect pests and extensive research has shown that these products are not responsible for localized declines in honeybee colony health that have been reported,” he said.

Bayer will conduct a thorough review of the PMRA review “and provide input into the consultation process. We support regulation that is based on sound, science-based evidence and considers the best management practices adopted by Canadian farmers.”

The pollinator assessment is the latest step in Health Canada’s re-evaluation of imidacloprid. In November 2016, it announced a re-evaluation of the neonic to look at health and environmental risks.

Among the uses to be phased out are foliar application on orchard fruit, some tree nuts, and most small fruit and berries, soil uses on berries, some ornamentals and herbs, and outdoor-grown fruiting vegetables, cucurbits, and legumes. There will be changes to the timing of foliar application on some tree nuts, strawberries, grapes, fruiting vegetables, legumes, potatoes, peanuts, tobacco, hops, and some herbs and additional protective label instructions for cereal and legume seed treatment uses.

The department is still conducting re-evaluations on two other neonics — clothianidin, and thiamethoxam. Thus far, these two products do not pose risks to pollinators and their use will continue on a restricted basis.

The post Health Canada still on track for phasing out imidacloprid appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

It’s not a new problem. As early as 2014, producer groups were already warning that Colorado potato beetles were becoming increasingly resistant to neonicotinoids.

Four years later, the problem has not gone away and, in some patches of the province, has arguably got worse.

High beetle populations made their way into last year’s provincial insect summary, with Manitoba Agriculture noting possible resistance in Titan- and Admire-treated fields.

Some areas of the province now see 2-1/2 cycles of the bug in a season, according to Dr. Vikram Bisht, Manitoba Agriculture potato and horticulture crop pathologist.

“Which is, in Manitoba, unheard of a few years ago,” he said.

Where is the problem?

Reports have been most urgent in south-central Manitoba near Winkler, although Bisht says there have been some issues farther northwest.

Fields near Carberry and Portage la Prairie had adult beetles despite seed or in-furrow treatments, although foliar application knocked them back if they creeped to close to economic thresholds.

“Starting from the western part of our province, which is mainly Carberry-area production, we have reports of increasing adult beetles being found towards the later part of the season, but the incidences or severity is not high enough to warrant foliar application because they appear rather late so they can’t be doing much damage,” Bisht said.

Farmers did have to reach for the foliar insecticide near Portage la Prairie.

Fields near Winkler, however, have seen beetles brush off a long line of both new and established chemistries.

“There are more insecticides being tried with little success,” Bisht said. “The major portion of southern Manitoba is a hot spot, I would say, for what’s going on.”

Controls challenged

Those reports match results from a three-year trial run by Peak of the Market in the Winkler area.

Dr. Tracy Shinners-Carnelley, vice-president of research and quality with Peak of the Market, says they have noticed more pressure in the spring from overwintering adult beetles and a shorter period of neonicotinoid control.

The three-year study tested four products; Titan, Actara, Minecto Duo and Verimark, a non-neonicotinoid product that the industry hoped might provide some relief as regulations on “neonics” tighten.

The study, however, found that Verimark control appeared to break by July in all years, while neonicotinoid treatments provided control until up to mid-July or later.

The same three-year research found that seed treatment lasted longer than if the same products were used in furrow and that higher-rate applications gave the longest window of control.

The researchers had to turn to foliar treatments as larvae and defoliation reached economic thresholds, however.

Delegate and Exirel, the two foliar products tested, still took the population to near nothing, according to study results.

Shinners-Carnelley, however, has been warning farmers off overuse of Delegate for fear of resistance pressure. Manitoba Agriculture also urges growers to rotate chemistries and to avoid using the same active ingredient for seed treatment and foliar application.

Crop rotation can be effective to manage the pest, Bisht said, but added that it is not enough to switch potatoes onto the next field.

“That’s where the beetles can easily walk,” he said, but admitted that keeping that distance may not be practical for farmers every year.

Longer emergence

Beetles have been taking longer to emerge in spring, Shinners-Carnelley also noted, making it harder to target a specific growth stage, since development is spaced out.

“They’ll start around the time when the potato crop is emerging, which is often end of May, early June and it used to just take a couple of weeks,” she said. “But now what we’re seeing is that prolonged emergence even right into July.”

At the same time, according to Dr. Russell Groves, entomology professor at the University of Wisconsin who spoke at the 2018 Manitoba Potato Production Days, many newer products are most effective against a particular growth stage.

“Which tools you choose dictates your timing,” he said. “These reduced-risk, age-specific insecticides have to be focused on your appropriate life stage… each one of them requires a different timing. Once it’s time to go you’re probably going to start and you’re going to put on at least three successive applications to get control.”

It’s a management challenge in a field that might have beetles at multiple life stages at the same time.

“It’s kind of like we really need to relearn what is happening with the life cycle and then figure out how to best proceed with those available tools that we have in such a way that they’re going to work and be effective but also to keep them around,” Shinners-Carnelley said. “We don’t want to be doing any practices that are going to decrease the length of time it’s going to take for those beetles to develop resistance.”

‘We are in a bind’

Regulatory issues add another dimension to the fight.

Environmentalists and beekeepers have argued strongly against neonicotinoid use, arguing that they devastate pollinator populations.

The fate of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, or Admire, is currently in the hands of Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency. The PMRA is considering deregistering the chemical for agriculture and phasing it out over three to five years and is expected to make a final decision by the end of 2018.

Clothianidin and thiamethoxam were also put in the hot seat last year when Health Canada announced special reviews. The agency ultimately proposed to maintain both products’ registration, but put conditions on application and plans to phase them out for certain aspects of agriculture, like foliar applications in orchards. Those decisions are also up for public comment.

For the potato farmer however, “neonics” have been their best weapon against Colorado potato beetle and have no easy substitution.

Companies are looking for new products, Bisht said, while Shinners-Carnelley earmarked a long list of incoming research on beetle management options.

“It’s a very bleak outlook right at this present time,” she said. “There’s a lot of moving parts when we look at where do we go in the future with beetles. Like mentioned, we see the changes in behaviour; we know there’s resistance issues, but we also know there’s some major regulatory hurdles upon us with the current products that we have. We need to look at what is coming down the road in terms of new opportunities and new ways of looking. We really want this research to move forward so that we can get that going in the right direction, but it takes time.”

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The ban, championed by environmental activists, covers the use of three active substances — imidacloprid, developed by Bayer CropScience; clothianidin, developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer CropScience; and Syngenta’s thiamethoxam.

“All outdoor uses will be banned and the neonicotinoids in question will only be allowed in permanent greenhouses where exposure of bees is not expected,” the European Commission said in a statement.

Representatives of EU member states in the EC’s standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed on Friday supported the proposal for a new regulation to be adopted by the EC “in the coming weeks” and applicable “by the end of the year.”

Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EC’s commissioner for health and food safety, hailed the results of Friday’s vote, saying the EC “had proposed these measures months ago, on the basis of the scientific advice from the European Food Safety Authority.”

Bee health, he said, “remains of paramount importance for me since it concerns biodiversity, food production and the environment.”

Bayer called the ban “a sad day for farmers and a bad deal for Europe” and said it would not help bees. Many farmers, it said, had no other way of controlling pests and that the result was more spraying and a return to older, less effective chemicals.

The use of neonics in the European Union has been restricted to certain crops since 2013, but environmental groups have called for a total ban and sparked a debate across the continent about the wider use of chemicals in farming.

Campaign group Friends of the Earth described the decision of EU governments a “tremendous victory” for bees and for the environment.

“The European Commission must now focus on developing a strong pollinator initiative that boosts bee-friendly habitat and helps farmers cut pesticide use,” it said.

Both Bayer and Syngenta have challenged the 2013 partial ban at the European Court of Justice. A verdict is due on May 17.

Bayer, in a separate move Thursday, announced it would sell its clothianidin-based seed treatment brands Poncho and VOTiVO to fellow German chemical firm BASF.

The brands are part of a $2.65 billion asset sale to help clear the regulatory path for Bayer’s planned takeover of seed and ag chem firm Monsanto.

In Canada, two of the three neonics in question, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, are up for renewal of their conditional registrations as seed treatments and foliar- and soil-applied pesticides in field crops.

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency in December proposed to renew those registrations to the end of 2019.

For imidacloprid, PMRA in November proposed a three- to five-year phase-out of all agricultural uses and a “majority of other outdoor uses” of the product, citing the chemical’s presence in waterways at levels harmful to aquatic insects.

Final decisions from the PMRA on both proposals are due later this year.

— Reporting for Reuters by Philip Blenkinsop; includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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Meanwhile the department will continue working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of California on the impact of the pesticides on pollinators and insects, Health Canada announced Dec. 21.

As for the controversy over their impact on pollinators, Health Canada stands by its earlier conclusion “… that since the introduction of new planting practices for corn and soybeans in 2014, the number of bee death incidents have remained well below the high levels of 2012 and 2013. The number of bee death incidents related to sprayed pesticides also dropped during 2016.”

As for population declines in pollinators, “… no single factor has been identified as the cause,” it said. “The available science suggests that multiple factors acting in combination may be at play, including loss of habitat and food sources, diseases, viruses and pests, and pesticide exposure.”

Health Canada is examining the information collected in an attempt to answer these questions.

Debra Conlon of Grain Farmers of Ontario, said her organization was pleased to see Health Canada appreciate the value of neonic seed treatments and that it “recognizes that there are situations where the use of a neonicotinoid seed treatment would be critical to producing a viable crop.” It also “specifically states that the widespread use of these products is contributing to the low soil insect population and that neonics have replaced other less desirable chemistries.”

The department also acknowledged that bee “incidents” are down and the best management practices Ontario farmers have instituted are working.

“The report says that since the introduction of a dust-reducing fluency agent for treated corn and soybean seeds in 2014, the number of incident reports associated with treated corn and soybean seeds in Canada has declined by 70 to 90 per cent.”

Pierre Petelle, president of CropLife Canada, said the department’s announcement validates what the industry has been saying all along. His organization is still analyzing the details of Health Canada’s announcement made just before Christmas.

“It will have definite impact on the horticulture sector,” Petelle said. “Overall the department is saying it wants to make sure its information on neonics is current but overall pollinators aren’t at risk.”

He said the department’s announcement undercuts the limits imposed by the Ontario government on neonic use. “It shows they got it wrong.”

However, the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association blasted the department’s announcement as a gift to pesticide manufacturers. The decision “goes against overwhelming scientific evidence showing acute and chronic effects on bees, and the experience of Ontario beekeepers whose bees continue to suffer from a decade of overuse of neonicotinoids on soy, corn and winter wheat.”

There are three important neonicotinoids currently approved for agricultural use in Canada, imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam. They have been under review since 2012.

The numbers of bee death incidents reported between 2014 and 2017 during the planting period were between 70 and 92 per cent lower, compared to 2013, Health Canada said.

The Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency “continues to track and investigate bee mortality incidents with the support of the appropriate provincial ministry and plans to complete in 2018 a comprehensive analysis of the incidents that occurred between 2012 and 2016.”

The agency said as a result of comprehensive scientific assessments of the effects of clothianidin and thiamethoxam on bees and other pollinators, they are proposing to phase out some uses of these pesticides.

“We are also proposing to further restrict other uses in cases where the acceptable risk to bees and other pollinators could not be demonstrated,” PMRA wrote. “The PMRA is currently consulting Canadians on these proposed regulatory decisions for 90 days.”

The risk assessment for imidacloprid is being reviewed in light of additional data from the registrant, additional literature that has recently been published, and public comments.

“To date, our assessments of the available data and published literature do not point to unacceptable risks to human health from imidacloprid,” the department said. The PMRA is also looking at the potential for neonicotinoids to affect other parts of the environment including aquatic life such as fish, insects, and other organisms.

An environmental risk assessment of it “had showed that, in aquatic environments in Canada, imidacloprid is being measured at levels that are harmful to aquatic insects. These insects are an important part of the ecosystem, including as a food source for fish, birds and other animals. For the protection of the environment, PMRA proposed to phase out all the agricultural and a majority of other outdoor uses of imidacloprid over three to five years.”

The department received about 46,000 comments on that, which it is still reviewing along with additional data from a variety of sources. A final decision on the acceptability of the continued use of imidacloprid in Canada is expected in late 2018.

Proposed decisions for thiamethoxam and clothianidin will be published in mid-2018. So far, the department says clothianidin and thiamethoxam do not pose risks to pollinators and their use will continue on a restricted basis.

A phase-out of foliar application to orchard trees and strawberries as well as municipal, industrial and residential turf sites would be proposed. Pre-bloom application would be reduced from two to one for cucurbit (cucumbers, squash, etc.) vegetables. There would be additional protective label instructions for cereal crop uses.

Proposed changes to the way thiamethoxam can be used include phase-out of foliar and soil applications to ornamental crops that will result in pollinator exposure as well as on berry crops, cucurbit crops and fruiting vegetables and orchard trees. Foliar application to legumes, outdoor fruiting vegetables, and berry crops would no longer be permitted before or during bloom.

As the result of additional information supplied on clothianidin and thiamethoxam products was required, Health Canada is proposing that these products be granted a three-year registration. The risk-reduction measures proposed in these registrations mirror the risk-reduction measures proposed under the re-evaluation while recognizing the other ongoing regulatory activities associated with these products.

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