—Ken Sapsford.
“If you have an issue, the system works very well.”
If you have specific weed or insect problems in crops that aren’t covered by herbicide or insecticide registration, you should bring the issue forward to your provincial commodity group, says Ken Sapsford, a weed specialist from the University Saskatchewan (U of S). The commodity group can then use the minor use program to work toward an important registration that a chemical company on its own could not justify, financially.
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The program, co-ordinated by Agriculture Canada, was introduced in 1998. “Since the program was started we have looked at 50 different crops with 67 different pesticides. We now have 92 different minor use registrations available to Western Canadian farmers,” Sapsford says.
Decisions aren’t made overnight, but requests are reviewed in a timely manner, he says.
Here’s a quick overview of the process: Farmers make a request to the relevant commodity group, the commodity group then makes a request to the provincial minor use co-ordinator, and from there it is referred to the Agriculture Minor Use Centre for consideration. The centre selects 33 priority projects each year.
“If you have an issue, the system works very well,” says Sapsford.
For more information on the Minor Use Centre or for a complete list of all registrations in Canada, visit the centre’s website. It is a long website, so the simplest approach is to Google “Agriculture Canada Minor Use Registrations.” The webpage should be the first result that comes up.
EXAMPLES
Here are some key minor use registrations available to Prairie farmers:
For chickpeas: Sencor (metribuzin); Select (clethodim); Poast Ultra (sethoxydim); Roundup Weathermax (glyphosate); Authority (sulfentrazone)
For canaryseed: Accord/ Buctril-M (quinclorac/bromoxynil-MCPA) tank mix; Trophy (fluroxypyr/ MCPA); Curtail M (clopyralid/ MCPA); Prestige (fluroxypyr and clopyralid/MCPA)
For sunflowers: Muster (ethametsulfuron)
—For beans: Assure II (quizalifop) in Great Northern beans, small red beans and pink beans; Assure II (quizalifop) and Basagran (bentazon) in Great Northern beans, small red beans, pink beans and pinto beans; Basagran (bentazon) and ammonium sulphate in Great Northern beans, small red beans, pink beans and pinto beans; Viper (basagran and imazamox) in dry bean.
For flax: Proline (prothioconazole)
For timothy: Curtail M (clopyralid/MCPA) on established timothy for seed production; Prestige (fluroxypyr and clopyralid/ MCPA) on seedling and established timothy for seed production; Attain (fluroxypyr and 2,4-D) on seedling and established timothy for seed production; Spectrum (florasulam plus clopyralid and MCPA) in timothy for seed production.
For wheatgrass: Achieve Liquid (tralkoxydim) on seedling and established intermediate wheatgrass, on seedling and established crested wheatgrass, on seedling northern wheatgrass, on seedling and established western wheatgrass, and on seedling and established slender wheatgrass for seed production; Prestige (fluroxypyr and clopyralid/MCPA) on seedling and established intermediate wheatgrass, and on seedling and established crested wheatgrass; Attain (fluroxypyr and 2,4-D) on seedling and established intermediate wheatgrass, and on seedling and established crested wheatgrass.
For spice crops: Quadris (azoxystrobin) on coriander; Select (clethodim) on coriander; Select (clethodim) on fenugreek; Odyssey (imazamox and imazethapyr) on fenugreek.
You’ll also find minor use registrations for creeping red fescue, meadow bromegrass, smooth bromegrass, tall fescue, seed alfalfa, perennial ryegrass, lupin, faba bean, sweet corn, saskatoons, chokecherry and Prairie carnation.
Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at [email protected]
