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
Tag Archives neonicotinoids — page 4
Ont. farmers file for stay of province’s neonic regs
Ont. books drop in bee death ‘incidents’ at planting
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
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
Pearce: GFO goes informative rather than inflammatory
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
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
Ontario won’t widen comment window on neonics: GFO
The public comment period on Ontario’s planned regulations for neonicotinoid seed treatments will close Thursday as scheduled, despite requests from the province’s grain grower group for an extension. The province has “refused” to extend the public comment period on the use of the insecticide group in seed treatments, Grain Farmers of Ontario said in a […] Read more
GFO seeks longer comment period on neonic regs
Grain Farmers of Ontario wants the province’s environment ministry to reconsider the rush on the comment period for its proposed new controls on neonicotinoid seed treatments. The province has given the public, farmers included, a 45-day period ending May 7 to comment on its proposed regulations. “This is one of the busiest times of the […] Read more
Neonic rules ‘unworkable’ for Ont. corn, soy growers
Ontario’s planned regulation to limit the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments might as well be a ban from where the organization sits representing the province’s corn and soy producers. After reviewing the draft regulation, which provincial officials posted March 23 for public comment until May 7, Grain Farmers of Ontario said Thursday it “strongly opposes […] Read more
Lowe’s to phase out sales of neonics by 2019
Chicago | Reuters — Home improvement chain Lowe’s will stop selling a type of pesticide suspected of causing a decline in honeybee populations needed to pollinate key American crops, following a few U.S. retailers who took similar steps last year. The pesticides known as neonicotinoids (neonics) are sold by agrichemical companies to boost yields of […] Read more
Pesticides could lead to ‘pollination deficit,’ EU report says
Brussels | Reuters –– Evidence is mounting that widely-used pesticides harm moths, butterflies and birds as well as bees, adding to concerns crop production could be hit by a shortage of pollinators, according to a report drawn up for EU policymakers. The European Commission, the EU executive, placed restrictions on three neonicotinoid pesticides from Dec. […] Read more
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