Quick Facts:
- Without pesticides and biotech crops we’d need 50% more farmland in Canada to grow what we do today.
- Canadian farmers produce 72% more fruit because they use pesticides to protect their crops.
Pesticides play an important role as farmers continue to work towards producing the safest and highest quality foods possible. In order for producers to do their jobs efficiently and effectively, they need a regulatory system that is science-based and a government that is willing to provide producers with the necessary tools. The ability of farmers to have timely access to new products for use in pest management is extremely important to farmers to remain competitive in the global market. CFA also requests that more resources be directed at the registration of ‘minor use’ products to ensure producers of horticultural, vegetable, fruit and small acreage crops have access to the pest control tools they need.
Working Toward Solutions:
The CFA participates in both the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) Transformation Steering Committee and the Pest Management Advisory Council (PMAC), along with other stakeholders with the shared goal of improving the current regulatory system.
As part of the PMRA Transformation process, CFA sits on both the Steering Committee and Technical Working Group that supports this process.
Read more on pesticides in the CFA Policy Manual
CFA Recommendations:
- PMRA recognizes the competitive disadvantages of the current system, and CFA implores the government to work to harmonize system with the U.S. and EU countries;
- Border barriers be lifted to allow any product currently approved for similar purposes by the U.S. EPA or EU equivalent;
- Create an expedited registration process for reduced risk products to facilitate access to lower-risk products;
- Improve the accountability of PMRA. CFA requests intervention by Ministers involved recognizing issues of trade, competitiveness, NAFTA agreements, science policy and sound governance;
- Increased industry representation for PMAC;
- Support independent data usage;
- Revoke Maximum Residue Limits for imported products when active ingredients are removed in Canada;
- Ensure that the PMRA is appropriately resourced and improves internal processes in support of timely, transparent, and science-based decisions that will help Canadian producers remain competitive in a global market;
- To help maintain the competitiveness of Canadian farmers and ensure they have access to the products they need, when they need them, amend the Feeds Act, Seeds Act and the Pest Control Products Act to allow for provisional registration of related products within 90 days of applications, where approvals exist in recognized trusted jurisdictions.
Growers Own Use Program
The federal government’s Growers Own Use Program (GROU) allows growers to import the U.S. version of Canadian-registered crop protection products for their own use, based on recommendations from a product nomination committee. CFA is a member of this committee.