Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s soybean and corn growers have been granted an appeal hearing in their bid to delay the province’s new limits on neonicotinoid seed treatments. Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), the body for the province’s corn, soy, wheat, barley and oat growers, said Tuesday the Ontario Court of Appeal has agreed to hear its case on March […] Read more
Court to hear growers’ appeal of Ontario neonic rules
Regulatory reviews show slim risk to bees from imidacloprid
Reading Time: 4 minutes Label directions and rules for foliar and on-seed use of imidacloprid pesticides should either prevent or limit the risks to honeybees and other pollinators from the chemical, Canadian and U.S. regulators say in a new early-stage risk assessment. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday released […] Read more
Quebec heading toward neonic limits on crops
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Quebec government is preparing consultations ahead of a wide legislative swath through the province’s pesticide sector, to limit farmers’ use of neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments and certain other pesticides. Environment Minister David Heurtel on Sunday released the province’s pesticide strategy for 2015 to 2018, mapping out the Couillard government’s plans in those years to […] Read more
Court rejects Ont. growers’ bid for stay on neonic regs
Reading Time: 2 minutes The association for Ontario corn and soybean growers is “evaluating several options” after its request for a stay of the province’s new limits on neonicotinoid seed treatments was rejected. The Ontario Superior Court denied the request from Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) for a stay and interpretation on the neonic regulations, which became law in […] Read more
Ont. farmers file for stay of province’s neonic regs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s corn and soybean grower group is taking the province’s planned regulations on the use and sale of pesticide-treated seed to court. Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) said Monday it filed a request late last week with the provincial Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, seeking a legal “interpretation” of the province’s rules on neonicotinoid-treated […] Read more
Ont. books drop in bee death ‘incidents’ at planting
Reading Time: 3 minutes Early data from federal pesticide regulators appear to suggest Ontario’s bee yards are moving past a spell of unusually high death losses seen around the 2012 and 2013 planting seasons. Combining the numbers of acute honey bee mortality “incidents” by bee yard in Ontario in the 2015 pre-planting and planting periods, up to June 11, Health Canada’s […] Read more
Some timetables loosen as Ont. neonic limits become law
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ontario’s corn and soybean growers and seed dealers will have slightly more time to manage some of their new duties as the province’s limits on neonicotinoid pesticides become legally binding. Ontario’s environment ministry on Tuesday announced its new provincial regulations — with a handful of changes from the draft legislation first published in March — […] Read more
The neonic debate on the future of bees gets real
With tough new regulations on the books, even some beekeepers are calling for compromise
Reading Time: 8 minutes Two months have passed and it seems the adage, “time heals all wounds” just doesn’t hold up. Instead, we’re further into the debate on neonicotinoid seed treatments, but farmers seem no closer to a solution. They may even be a step backwards. There is still no compromise with the beekeeping sector, or with provincial politicians […] Read more
Pearce: GFO goes informative rather than inflammatory
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not that farmers in Ontario aren’t frustrated and angry concerning legislation aimed at curbing the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments. They are. However, during a protest Friday in front of Ontario Deputy Premier Deb Matthews’ riding office in London, executives with the Grain Farmers of Ontario and roughly 35 farmers took a more proactive […] Read more
U.S. EPA proposing temporary pesticide-free zones for honeybees
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. environmental regulators on Thursday proposed a rule that would create temporary pesticide-free zones to protect commercial honeybees, which are critical to food production and have been dying off at alarming rates. The restrictions are aimed at protecting bees from “pesticides that are acutely toxic” to them, and would cover foliar applications when […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
