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Reducing Pesticide Use and Protecting Pollinator Health

From OMAFRA News Release

Ontario is taking action to strengthen bird, bee, butterfly and other pollinator health to ensure healthy ecosystems, a productive agricultural sector, and a strong economy.

Pollinators play an important role in Ontario's agricultural productivity. Crops such as apples, cherries, peaches, plums, cucumbers, asparagus, squash, pumpkins, and melons need help from pollinators to grow.

The federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency has found a link between planting corn and soybean seeds treated with neonicotinoids -- an agricultural insecticide -- and bee deaths in Ontario. The province's approach will help keep crops healthy and improve the environment by:

  • Working towards a goal of 80 per cent reduction in the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seed by 2017
  • Reducing the over-winter honeybee mortality rate to 15 per cent by 2020
  • Establishing a comprehensive Pollinator Health Action Plan

The province will consult on a proposal to reduce the use of neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seed. If approved, new rules on the use of neonicotinoids will be in place by July 1, 2015, in time for the 2016 agricultural planting season.

Ensuring a strong and healthy agricultural sector is part of the government's economic plan for Ontario. The four part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives, and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.

More information OMAFRA Public Consultations on this topic can be found here:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/pollinator/meeting-reg.htm

Source: OMAFRA


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