Not that I’m complaining at all about having worked for one organization for a very long time, but when you’ve had one email account all that time, you get put on a lot of lists and wind up getting hundreds of emails a day. I’m not complaining about that either, because even when an email isn’t directly relevant to your daily business — or, by extension, mine — there’s valuable food for thought in there.

Case in point: today, as I was sitting down to fill this space, I got a message from a proudly Canadian crop chem company, announcing its plan to seek an expanded label for a nematicide to cover soybean cyst nematode (SCN) for the 2026 growing season.

That got my attention — because ready or not, SCN has made it to the Prairies. It made its first appearance in Manitoba in 2019 and, as of 2024, was found to be present in soy fields in five RMs (Thompson, Norfolk-Treherne, Rhineland, Emerson-Franklin, Montcalm). The pest has already become a significant problem for soy growers in the U.S. and Ontario and has already beaten some varieties developed for SCN resistance.

A soil-borne roundworm, SCN infects soybean roots and can cause yield losses of up to 30 per cent by the time symptoms are visible to the soy grower. Once it’s taken up residence in a field, it can’t be completely eradicated. Much like with clubroot — the subject of our cover story this week — a farmer’s first defense is to prevent it from ever reaching a field. That means cleaning equipment, vehicles, tools, clothes and shoes before moving on from one field to the next, especially if those items come in from areas where it’s already been detected.

It also means choosing SCN-resistant soybean seed, not to mention rotating through different resistant traits. It also means rotating your fields to include non-host plants, making sure to keep potential host weeds in check.

So, an in-furrow nematicide registered against SCN, such as Mississauga-based Vive Crop Protection now proposes its Averland FC brand could be, would be another significant prong in that multi-pronged approach. Surely a made-in-Canada product would be a boon for Prairie soy growers before SCN gets any further foothold up here, right?

Well, no. This announcement was that Vive is seeking approval — from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — to expand the Averland label for 2026. I optimistically asked whether Vive has a timeline to seek PMRA approval for same, and was quickly informed the company “do(es) not have plans to register Averland FC in Canada.”

Mind you, this wasn’t a surprise. Our colleague Robert Arnason at The Western Producer has spoken to Vive previously about its current business model, which focuses almost exclusively on the U.S. market. Today Vive has just one product registered in Canada (AZteroid FC, a fungicide for potato crops) compared to seven in the U.S.

It’s not that Vive considers Canada to be small-potatoes, so to speak. Rather, it’s found Canada’s regulatory process increasingly unpredictable and slow. The U.S. path to registration for novel crop tech such as Vive’s is still complex — but is at least clear as to what tests must be done, what information the company must provide and how long the process will take. And other companies and critics have complained that the Canadian process has become more political in nature — so in the interest of being seen to be transparent about the process, it’s now bogged down in what Conservative ag critic John Barlow called “death by consultation.”

By themselves, those concerns aren’t very new, and so far they haven’t forced Vive to haul up stakes and move their entire operation to the U.S. More recently, last fall, federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) government experts’ working group on pesticide management noted there appear to be “regulatory barriers to registering products in Canada that do not exist elsewhere” and that “initiatives to support smaller applicants, such as pre-submission consultations, were not seen as effective in addressing this perception.”

Moreover, the working group “voiced concerns about a growing technology gap in crop protection products between Canada and the U.S. that could put Canadian agriculture producers at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace” — and “recommends that federal government departments and agencies explore ways to make Canada a more attractive market to register new pest control products, notably biopesticides.”

We’re not suggesting here that Canada adopt a regime of copy-pasting and rubber-stamping U.S. crop protection approvals for the Canadian market. It’s also now possible our neighbour’s administration won’t be as forthcoming on matters of regulatory co-operation and harmonization as we once hoped.

But given Canada’s interest in encouraging new registrations, farmers’ need for diverse chemistries, and crop chem companies’ interest in making money, if not at least more quickly recovering their R&D costs, there’s a case to be made for the regulators and regulated to meet each other halfway — or at least somewhere on a scale between government accepting the value of submissions to U.S. regulators at par, and companies not even bothering to seek Canada’s approval at all.

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Although producers such as Dallas Leduc and Corey Loessin in Saskatchewan and Roger Chevraux in Alberta appreciate the fact they can now again use Syngenta and Adama products with lambda-cyhalothrin chemistry to control insect pests on cereal, pulse, corn and canola crops, they say it’s been a tense and somewhat expensive past couple of growing seasons without use of the effective and affordable insecticides.

“We got through the past couple years without any major wrecks,” says Roger Chevraux, who farms at Killam in central Alberta, east of Camrose. “We did have alternate products available, but the issue is when the registration of lambda-cy products changed we had very little notice. If we had had a serious outbreak of some pests it could have been a disaster.”

Corey Loessin, a grain, oilseed and pulse crop producer at Radisson, Sask., credited commodity organizations such as the Canada Grains Council and others for their efforts in encouraging PMRA to review current data that helped to reinstate lambda-cy registration for major crops.

And Dallas Leduc, who farms at Glentworth, says grasshoppers didn’t take a break during drought conditions in his part of southern Saskatchewan. Fortunately he was able to use another insecticide — Coragen, with the active ingredient chlorantraniliprole — which was effective but considerably more expensive than lambda-cy products.

As well, he did discover a cost-effective, made-in-Saskatchewan insecticide that also has become another tool in his crop protection toolbox.

The background

At issue for these and other Canadian farmers was a decision by Health Canada’s PMRA in mid-February 2023 to change the registration of insecticides containing lambda-cy chemistry, saying those products could no longer be used on major crops such as cereals, pulses and canola — if those crops were being used for livestock feed. Lambda-cy could still be used on crops to be processed for the human food market.

The ruling followed a routine review of pesticides in both the U.S. and Canada, which started some years before. PMRA made its determination due to concerns about insecticide residue levels found in livestock feed.

Ultimately the existing lambda-cy products, such as Matador 120 EC and Voliam Xpress from Syngenta, as well as Silencer and Zivata insecticides from Adama, remained available for food crops, with their labels adjusted accordingly.

But as the agriculture industry knows, crops seeded in April and May might very well be intended for human food products, a plan that could quickly change depending on growing season conditions, markets and crop quality at harvest. Any of the major crops could very well end up as part of some livestock ration.

Fast forward to earlier this month: after reviewing the most current research data regarding pesticide residues, PMRA reversed its decision and reinstated the use of pesticides containing lambda-cy chemistry on major crops used for both food and livestock feed.

The 2025 ruling does have a couple of limitations. Lambda-cy products can no longer be used on peach and apple crops. Lambda-cy can be used, but with reduced application, on turf grass — but it still cannot be used on any crops produced for livestock forage, whether that be grazing, greenfeed, hay or silage.

The 2023 scramble

“The PMRA ruling was made in mid-February of 2023, which didn’t leave chemical companies or farmers much time to line up alternate products for that season,” Chevraux recalls.

“And the ruling itself made zero sense. Why could the products be used on and be OK for food use but not for feed? It just didn’t add up.”

Chevraux, a past chairperson of Alberta Canola, says he doesn’t always need to use an insecticide — but in the spring of 2023 he did have a problem with cutworms on his farm.

“Fortunately we found another product that helped control cutworm, but it cost four times as much as the lambda-cy products,” he says. “We did have some flea beetles, but it wasn’t serious. We were just lucky there wasn’t an outbreak of grasshoppers or diamondback moths or some other pest that can blow in from the U.S.

“I get concerned any time we lose a tool from the toolbox, because in agriculture we need as many choices as possible in order to optimize production,” he says. “I believe PMRA needs to operate in a more timely manner. The agency needs more funding, and I don’t believe the agency has a good understanding of the agriculture industry, our modern production practices and some of the issues or challenges the industry faces in any given year.”

More responsive PMRA

Loessin says farmers in his area northwest of Saskatoon fortunately also didn’t have any major insect outbreaks during the 2023 and 2024 growing seasons, and they did have access to alternatives as needed.

“I’m glad that use of lambda-cy products on crops used for livestock feed has been reinstated,” says Loessin. “But in my view, it just corrects a mistake that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. It appears that PMRA was relying on old data when it made that ruling in 2023, even though there was new or more current data available.

“Commodity organizations actively encouraged PMRA to reconsider and review the new data which eventually led to the products being re-instated for use. The initial review started in 2017 and now it is 2025 — that’s a long review process.

“In general I believe PMRA needs to be more responsive. It took two years from 2023 until now to review the data and reinstate these insecticides. What if it had been the opposite issue — there was chemistry in use that was causing harm to human health or the environment? Would we have to wait two years for that product to be pulled from the market? I’m glad the lambda-cy products are back but I really think PMRA needs to be more nimble and more responsive in its review process.”

Good to have alternatives

Although Leduc says he was able to use alternate products to control insect pests — namely grasshoppers — on his southern Saskatchewan farm, he’s glad to see products containing lambda-cy can again be used on cereals, pulses and oilseeds for both food and feed markets.

“Coragen is a great product, but it is more expensive,” he says. “Depending on the pest and the year sometimes we have to treat whole fields or sometimes just the edges or the headlands. We went into the fall of 2024 with no subsurface moisture so I know that grasshoppers will be a problem again in 2025.”

One other grasshopper control option Leduc discovered over the past couple of years is Eco-Bran. Developed about 40 years ago by Peacock Industries of Saskatoon, it’s a bait made of wheat bran infused with carbaryl insecticide.

Leduc says his spot application system uses a hopper with a fan powered by a five-horsepower Honda engine, mounted in his pickup truck.

“We found that sometimes we just want to treat the ditches or the headlands, or just around the yard for grasshoppers,” he says. “And some of our land is up to 30 miles away. We can mount the blower in the back of the pickup truck, drive 30 minutes to the field, put the Eco-Bran in the hopper and blow the product out in the ditch or along the edge of the field and then drive home. It is a lot simpler than taking a sprayer that costs a few hundred thousand (dollars) and bouncing it along for 30 miles for a 20-minute spraying job.”

What’s more, “it works, too,” he says. “The grasshoppers eat that bran and they’re dead. It doesn’t eliminate them, but it does help to control them. It is environmentally friendly and an effective way to treat strips or patches.”

Eco-Bran comes in a 20-kg bag that retails for about $147.

A cautious approach

Manitoba Agriculture entomologist John Gavloski says the pesticide review process can sometimes result in restricted uses of popular pest management options — but it’s a safeguard against product uses where there’s evidence of potential harm to the environment or human health.

PMRA, he says, wants to make sure insecticides used at recommended label rates do not exceed maximum residue levels in our foods.

“The PMRA is taking a cautious approach when it comes to regulating the uses of lambda-cyhalothrin,” he says. “There was some concern that residuals in some foods were found to be above what is considered safe levels. Now PMRA has reviewed new information and determined that some restrictions on the use of seeds from some major field crops being used for livestock feed can be lifted.

“However, PMRA still has concerns about these crops being used as forages, so the restrictions for that end use is still in place.

“Overall it is good news for farmers, in that they can use these effective insecticides on major crops, such as canola and some cereal and pulse crops, without concerns around marketing grain from these crops.”

Gavloski notes lambda-cyhalothrin use also remains cancelled for sunflowers, which took up about 44,900 acres in his province in 2024, down 47 per cent from 2023.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of insecticide options that can be used to control lygus bug in sunflowers, but producers and the industry were able to obtain emergency registration of an alternate product that could be used,” he says — a reference to Carbine, a flonicamid product sold in Canada by FMC. That emergency registration is still in effect in Manitoba, and for confection sunflowers only, but is set to expire July 20.

“There are now efforts to obtain full registration for this product for use with sunflowers. On the positive side, this new product is very selective in controlling lygus bug and other sap-feeding pests and will not harm beneficial insects. So that is perhaps also a good outcome of this review process.”

System needs a review

Shannon Sereda, senior manager for government relations and policy with Alberta Grains, says Alberta farmers are no doubt pleased with the recent decision by PMRA — but it underscores a need to look at the whole process of how pesticides are reviewed.

“As everyone says, it is great to have another valuable tool back in the crop protection toolbox,” Sereda says. “This is what Alberta Grains was advocating for all along and it is the outcome we had hoped for.

“But it emphasizes the need for industry to work with PMRA on hopefully revising and modernizing the whole pesticide review process. The process takes years and to have restrictions like this imposed for two years creates a lot of confusion for producers.

“The decision which separates food from feed is a very complex issue for farmers. Often the decision regarding the end use of crops isn’t made until long after a pesticide has been applied. So we feel it is important in making future decisions that PMRA understands the complexity or the ramifications of their decisions and importance of timeliness. These are some of the concerns we as a sector will be looking at with the PMRA review process.”

The issue with lambda-cy also emphasizes a long-talked-about need for harmonizing the whole crop protection product registration process among like-minded jurisdictions and markets.

U.S. authorities, for example, had reviewed data and found lambda-cy products fell within food and feed safety guidelines, whereas PMRA had to conduct its own review and evaluation.

The issue with the part of the PMRA decision that restricts the use of lambda-cy on forage crops remains up in the air. However, one southern Alberta agronomist says it may not have a huge impact.

George Lubberts, owner of Complete Agronomic Services at Nobleford, north of Lethbridge, says irrigated cereal crops grown for pasture, greenfeed or silage usually aren’t treated with pesticides, although pests such as grasshoppers can be a concern for dryland farmers, especially in dry growing seasons.

“Among my clients, I believe the restrictions in pesticide use might be a concern for dairy producers looking to control alfalfa weevil in alfalfa crops, but there are other products available,” he says.

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From 2000 onward, Alberta Agriculture severely cut down on this and other farm information units. The books and fact sheets are fully relevant today but they need upgrading and maintenance, in a few instances, so they can remain available and useful to the farming industry.

Take for example the Alberta Blue Book, also known as the Alberta Crop Protection Guide. This book was developed in the 1980s as a comprehensive guide to available herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. I was responsible for the fungicide and seed treatment section. The Blue Book was a roaring success and soon there was a joint Manitoba/Saskatchewan version, now produced as separate entities.

Despite that success, Alberta Agriculture dropped its annual production. Fortunately, it was promptly taken over by Alberta’s crop commissions and you can purchase a copy online for around $15. The Saskatchewan edition, the Guide to Crop Protection, is available for free at agricultural extension offices and farm gatherings. The updated 2024 text can be obtained by calling 1-866-457-2377 in Saskatchewan.

The Manitoba version, the Guide to Field Crop Production, is available at provincial ag service centres at $10 per copy.

All three publications are updated annually and are excellent texts to have on hand. It is easier to pick up any of these and look up the pesticide you may have applied during the current growing season or the previous year.

The more you know

I could list dozens of textbooks, let alone fact sheets, but I will list and describe only a few. In the mid-1970s, none of these farmer information textbooks existed and weed, disease and insect control were virtually matters of word of mouth.

In 1975, I was looking at an information sheet on sclerotinia in canola and to my surprise, it said sclerotinia infection was a result of broken pieces of fungal hyphae bounced up from the soil surface by rainstorms. The first canola field I visited was heavily damaged by sclerotinia in late July 1975 at Stony Plain, Alta. Within a few steps into the diseased crop, there were dozens of tiny fungal apothecia (mushrooms) in every square foot or so of cropland.

It seems no one in North America had bothered to look for overwintered sclerotes in the field. This Stony Plain field had dozens of visitors from many areas of the Prairies who finally began to better understand this destructive disease.

As a consequence of this and other field crop diseases in Canada, I linked up with Lloyd Edgington at the University of Guelph and Lloyd Seaman at Ottawa. We agreed at a meeting of the Canadian Phytopathological Society to compile a textbook in English and French on significant diseases of field crops in Canada.

By 1984, under the editorship of Lloyd Seaman, W.J. Martins and T.G Atkinson, co-operation from coast to coast produced our 160-page colour illustrated text, Diseases of Field Crops in Canada. Sales in the $30 range were brisk on the Prairies, outstripping the rest of the country combined.

This book has been revised twice, with a third edition on the way. Much of the financing for the third edition came from the agrochemical and seed technology industries. Copies can be obtained from Discovery Seed Labs in Saskatoon at 306-249-4484 at $35 each.

If you are into horticulture or potatoes, you need to look up Diseases and Pests of Vegetable Crops in Canada. The chief editor was Ron Howard at Alberta Agriculture at Brooks. Howard and many others did a fantastic job of describing the significant pests and diseases of horticultural crops from coast to coast. This book is a free download on the internet and is an absolute must for potato growers as well as those of every horticultural crop.

There are many books, booklets and fact sheets available to growers on the internet. Just because you can install an app on your phone, do not think you have all the answers on hand. If, for example, you are an organic grower, Alberta Agriculture published a book called Practical Crop Protection on weeds, insects and disease. The 170-page text is non-chemical and though it was published in 1993, it warned against the damages of clubroot in canola well before its discovery in 2003.

Such books and fact sheets may vanish with the onset of technology, but having them on hand or revising their content and keeping them current online for the farming community could help ward off insect, weed or disease problems before they become endemic.

The post Recognize the value of books, fact sheets, texts appeared first on Grainews.

BASF

BASF’s rebate program for western Canadian farmers is called BASF Ag Rewards. It includes the InVigor Reward — those who buy InVigor hybrid canola can earn up to 15 per cent off of BASF canola herbicides and up to 17 per cent off of BASF canola fungicides. As well, you can save up to 15 per cent off of BASF pulse crop establishment products, up to 17 per cent off of BASF cereal fungicides and up to 25 per cent off of BASF cereal seed treatments. An Ag Rewards calculator is available online at the BASF website.

“We have made some small changes, but for the most part it’s consistent. This was important to us coming into this year so that growers could expect the same level of rewards from BASF,” says Tim Bodvarson, commercial operations manager at BASF.

To qualify for BASF Ag Rewards, farmers must buy at least $20,000 worth of BASF products including seed and crop protection offerings and purchase 300 acres or more of eligible BASF products from different crop solution segments. Bodvarson notes there is one new herbicide on offer — Voraxor Complete, a pre-seed herbicide for pulses.

BASF also has the Pulse Pack Offer, which provides pulse growers with a $2 per matching acre rebate if they buy a minimum of 120 acres of Dyax fungicide as well as at least 120 acres of qualifying BASF imidazoline (IMI) herbicides and/or pre-seed herbicides.

The eligibility period for BASF Ag Rewards and the Pulse Pack Offer ends October 1, 2023. For more program details visit agriculture.basf.ca/west/programs/ag-rewards.

Bayer CropScience

This year, Bayer CropScience has included close to 30 brands in its BayerValue West Program that offers up to 25 per cent in savings on eligible purchases.

With a minimum 500-acre purchase of seed treatments, you can access five per cent savings on qualifying products across three segments (seed treatments, herbicides and fungicides).

If you buy qualifying products from more than one segment (minimum 300 acres per segment), you can save an additional five per cent (for two segments) or 10 per cent (for three segments).

There’s also the new BayerValue West Trait Bonus, which offers another five per cent rebate on eligible crop protection purchases when using any combination of Bayer traits for canola, soybean and corn (minimum 500 acres).

The Incredible Bayer Offer is back again this year. By booking 1,000 qualifying acres of cereal herbicides by March 10, you can save an additional five per cent on your eligible herbicide purchases.

Signing up for BayerValue West Rewards also gives you a complimentary one-year subscription to Bayer’s Climate FieldView digital platform and up to 50 per cent off of the cost of FieldView hardware purchased on the FieldView order portal (maximum $1,000 discount). More details on the Climate FieldView offer are available at climatefieldview.ca/bayervalue.

John Hanson, programming and pricing incentive manager for Bayer CropScience, says BayerValue West has increased savings for farmers who take advantage of both the seed treatment rewards (five per cent rebate) and seed traits rewards (five per cent rebate) for 2023. Those choosing not to buy traits can still save up to 15 per cent on qualifying seed treatment, herbicide and fungicide purchases.

Hanson notes whether farmers are looking at the brochure, checking out the online rewards calculator, or discussing options with their retail reps, the depth and breadth of the BayerValue West portfolio should enable them to find solutions to their agronomic needs. “That’s one thing we’re very proud of,” he says.

BayerValue West includes several new products in 2023, including cereal seed treatment Raxil Pro Shield (all-in-one formulation), XtendiMax 2 and Roundup Xtend 2 soybean herbicides and Minuet biological fungicide for potatoes (see BayerValue Hot Potatoes Prairies Reward Program).

The eligibility period for 2023 BayerValue West Rewards ends September 30, and you must register by July 31 to be eligible for program benefits. For more program information visit cropscience.bayer.ca/Grower-Programs/BayerValue-West.

Corteva Agriscience

Corteva Agriscience calls its farmer rebate program Flex+ Rewards. If you max it out, Corteva will rebate up to 18 per cent on your eligible crop protection products.

Lorne Thoen, customer experience and marketing communications manager for Corteva, says the Flex+ Rewards program is intended to provide lots of flexibility for farmers.

“We try to make sure we can access as many growers as possible with our rebates without hindering their ability to access the agronomic products they need,” says Thoen. “We want to try to get folks who have chosen one of our brands and had a great experience to be open to choosing us again for other needs on their farm, and for us to be able to earn that right to get a shot at that business.”

The first step is to find your program tier (spend tiers based on MSRP):

• Core – $15,000 to $24,999
• Core Plus – $25,000 to $99,000, or 300 acres of Corteva seed
• Core Max – $100,000 or more, or 800 acres of Corteva seed

Then, choose the products you need from several different categories, which include:

• Pre-seed herbicides
• Grass herbicides
• Broadleaf herbicides
• Fungicides
• Canola and corn herbicides and biologicals
• Cross-spectrum herbicides

At the Core tier, choosing products from three categories earns you a six per cent rebate, while purchases from four or more categories gets you a 10 per cent rebate. For the Core Plus tier, it is seven and 11 per cent respectively, and then in the Core Max tier it’s eight and 12 per cent, respectively.

There’s another three per cent rebate available through the Seed and Seed Treatment Booster Bonus by buying at least 300 acres of Pioneer seed or Brevant seed products and/or Lumivia CPL, Lumisena and Lumiderm soybean insecticide seed treatments. You can also save 28 per cent on Lumivia CPL by matching acres with pre-seed, grass, broadleaf or cross-spectrum herbicide purchases (300-acre minimum).

Lastly, you can earn an additional three per cent rebate if you book your products by March 15, 2023.

The eligibility period for the Flex+ Rewards program runs until August 31, 2023. You can find the details and full product lists at corteva.ca/en/offers/flex-rewards.

With the 2023 FMC CashBack program, there are no ties to seed purchases and/or matching acres with products. Jordan Brisebois, product manager for FMC Canada, says that’s because the idea behind the program is to keep things simple and reward growers for making agronomic decisions for their farm.

“When we designed this program three seasons ago, we thought, ‘we’ve got some great solutions for growers. Let them go to the solution first, find out what works for their farm, and then let’s reward them for that purchase afterwards. Make it simple,’” says Brisebois.

“For example, if you like Authority 480 as a product that helps solve a kochia problem on your farm, you start with the agronomic problem and then fit the solution into the programming piece after that.”

Under the 2023 FMC CashBack program, farmers in Western Canada who buy at least $5,000 worth of eligible products in FMC’s slate of pre-seed and in-crop herbicides between November 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023, will receive a rebate cheque at the end of the season.

The rebates for qualifying products are based on these four spending levels (based on MSRP):

• $5,000 to $29,999 — two per cent rebate on pre-seed herbicides, six per cent rebate on in-crop herbicides
• $30,000 to $49,999 — four per cent rebate on pre-seed herbicides, nine per cent rebate on in-crop herbicides
• $50,000 to $74,999 — six per cent rebate on pre-seed herbicides, 12 per cent rebate on in-crop herbicides
• $75,000 or more — eight per cent rebate on pre-seed herbicides, 15 per cent rebate on in-crop herbicides

“Purchasing key builder products like Aim, Express brands and our broad spectrum of industry-leading insecticides, helps add to your rebate spending levels, increasing your savings,” says Brisebois.

For the FMC CashBack calculator and more program details, visit ag.fmc.com/ca/en/programs/fmc-cashback-grower-program.

Nufarm

Nufarm has a grower rewards program called Nufarmer Nation. It’s the second year of the program, which Nufarm’s head of marketing, Holly Nicoll, contends is “simple to qualify for and easy to understand.”

According to Nicoll, “Nufarm has products for pulses and cereals from the time the crop is seeded until it reaches the bin at the end of the year. Nufarmer Nation provides rewards for all farm sizes that purchase Nufarm products. There’s a lot of flexibility in the program for farmers and at the end of the day, they’ll be rewarded with some dollars back in their pockets. They don’t have to cut corners in terms of agronomics or economics on their farms.”

Nicoll says, “We want farmers to have a good experience with Nufarmer Nation. Our priority is ensuring rebates are paid on time for the correct amount to each customer.”

The first step in the program is to buy at least 160 acres of Valtera EZ or Fierce EZ soil active herbicides or Conquer II, a pre-seed burndown for canola.

From there, you can choose products from four different categories — seed treatments, pre-seed burndown herbicides, in-crop herbicides and fungicides — and qualify for rebates ranging from four to 12 per cent depending on how much you spend on builder products from Nufarm during the growing season.

Here’s how the purchase levels break down (spend categories based on suggested retail price):

• $5,000 to $39,999 — four per cent rebate on all qualifying products
• $40,000 to $84,999 — eight per cent rebate on seed treatments and pre-seed burndown herbicides, six per cent rebate on in-crop herbicides and fungicides
• $85,000 or more — 12 per cent rebate on seed treatments and pre-seed burndown herbicides, eight per cent rebate on in-crop herbicides and fungicides

An online calculator for Nufarmer Nation rewards is available at nufarm.com. The eligibility period for the program ends August 31, 2023. For more details and to register for savings visit nufarm.com/ca/nufarmernation2023/.

Nutrien Ag Solutions

Nutrien Ag Solutions and Proven Seed have a rebate program called PV Profits, which includes seed, fertilizer and crop protection components. The program enables farmers to save money across all inputs and it also rewards sustainability best practices, as a new sustainability reward has been added for 2023 for farmers who book seed and enrol their acres under the Nutrien Sustainability Program.

Under the PV Profits programs, you earn rebates by matching acres of seed and fertilizer purchases and/or crop protection products. Qualifying products must be booked before specific deadlines.

The PV Profits program adds extra rebates per acre above the current payouts on the Nutrien Sustainability Program for producers who register and qualify for the program. Payouts on the Nutrien Sustainability Program are dependent on the sustainability protocol the farmer follows.

“I like this program because it enables growers to save money on seed, fertilizer and crop protection components, and offers further rebates to growers registered on the carbon program, which is Nutrien Sustainability,” says Jeremy Lacroix of Nutrien Ag Solutions.

“We also have the Priority Acre Program, which provides growers with a secure supply of glufosinate or glyphosate herbicide to cover their matching acres of canola seed, and we’ll continue to partner with suppliers throughout the growing season to offer programs on crop protection.”

Although some PV Profits deadlines have already passed, growers can still book and save money across crop protection, fertilizer and Proven Seed products, only through Nutrien Ag Solutions. Details on all of these programs are available through your local Nutrien Ag Solutions retailer.

Syngenta

Syngenta’s 2023 Partner Program for Western Canada has three components — the Portfolio Reward, the all-new Crop Bonus and the NK Soybean Seed Bonus.

The Portfolio Reward has three product categories for seed treatments, herbicides and fungicides. Buy at least 320 acres of qualifying products from two categories and you can save seven per cent. With purchases from three categories, you can save 10 per cent.

You can also increase your rebate by participating in the Crop Bonus. By matching 320 acres across different product categories for an individual crop (canola, cereals, soybeans and pulses), farmers can save two to 5.5 per cent on the suggested grower price for these purchases. The product segments are seed treatments, herbicides, fungicides and biologicals and plant growth regulators as a fourth category. For farmers buying products that can be used across multiple crops (Envita, Miravis Neo, Reglone Ion and others), there is a five per cent savings through the multi-crop product enabler.

The third aspect of the Partner Program, the NK Soybean Seed Bonus, offers a $2 per acre rebate for farmers growing a Syngenta NK soybean variety who buy 80 or more acres of a second NK variety.

As Jon Habok, customer marketing manager for Syngenta Canada, points out, there are several changes to Syngenta’s Partner Program for 2023. The Crop Bonus is one, and there’s also no longer a $25,000 minimum purchase requirement to qualify for the Partner Program. It has been replaced by an acreage requirement instead.

Habok says the changes were based on input received from farmers and retailers. “This makes it a lot easier for farmers across Western Canada to qualify for the Partner Program.”

Syngenta has also added Envita to the Partner Program, its new biological product for canola, cereals, pulses and other crops that Habok says turns the entire plant into “a nitrogen-fixing machine.”

Miravis Era, a fungicide for farmers looking to manage fusarium head blight in cereals, is another product on the Partner Program that Habok notes will be available to more farmers in 2023. Miravis Era was launched in Manitoba in 2022 but has been expanded to the dark brown and black soil zones of Saskatchewan in 2023.

The eligibility period for Syngenta’s 2023 Partner Program for Western Canada ends October 31. For more details and an online calculator for the program, visit syngenta.ca/partnerprogram/westindex.

UPL Canada

UPL Canada’s rebate program is called UPL Grower Rewards. It offers the biggest savings during the pre-season when farmers can earn 10 to 15 per cent in Smart Buy Rewards with a minimum 300-acre purchase of eligible products within UPL Canada’s extensive lineup of seed treatments, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, biostimulants and plant growth regulators. The deadline for Smart Buy Rewards is February 15, but there are plenty of savings opportunities after that as well.

“Our barrier to entry is relatively small, and with our Smart Buy Rewards timing, we’re rewarding growers for booking their products early,” says Tony Dalgliesh, marketing manager for UPL Canada. “If you miss that deadline, we still have our Base Rewards, which would be your in-season opportunity for different products.”

Farmers can earn Base Rewards of five to 7.5 per cent by purchasing 160 acres of eligible products from UPL Canada by August 1. In addition, those who buy Interline and Select herbicides together (300-acre minimum) can get five per cent back on their purchases.

Also available is the Rancona Trio Bonus, which enables farmers to save two to five per cent if they buy at least 300 acres of Rancona Trio fungicide seed treatment plus another one or more eligible products.

With the Rancona Trio Top-Up Bonus, customers who buy 300 or more acres of Rancona Trio and at least 160 acres of either Evito, Roxar or Zolera FX fungicides or Ohm or Wave biostimulants can double their Base Rewards rebate up to 15 per cent.

For more information and a Grower Rewards calculator, visit cloud.upl-naconnect.com/grower-rewards/western-canada-en.

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Known as the LumiGEN seed treatment packages — each tailored for canola, corn and soybeans — the idea is to bring together both old and new chemistries in these packages to control both insects and diseases that attack newly germinated crops at the seedling stage.

“The LumiGEN product contains the entire recipe of seed treatment products for exclusive use with Pioneer and Brevant canola, corn and soybean varieties,” says Kirsten Ratzlaff, product manager for seed applied technology at Corteva Agriscience.

The LumiGEN package for canola includes Lumiderm, a well-established Corteva product that provides protection against flea beetles and cutworms, along with a new fungicide package known as Lumiscend.

“Lumiscend is an entirely new fungicide seed treatment package,” says Ratzlaff. “It contains four new fungicide active ingredients that provide multiple modes of action and is really a step up in the level of disease protection.”

Blackleg protection

Ratzlaff says Lumiscend provides an improved level of control against diseases such as seedling disease complex, rhizoctonia and pythium. “And we are really excited to offer a unique, new active ingredient for protection against airborne blackleg disease in canola.”

Corteva’s announcement about a fungicide offering improved protection against blackleg comes at a time of recent news from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada about progress being made in unravelling the genetic code of the blackleg pathogen. Breaking the code will help plant breeders develop new canola varieties with improved blackleg resistance.

Blackleg has become a widespread and devastating disease in canola, particularly in the past dozen years. Estimates indicate approximately 55 per cent of western Canadian canola acres are affected by blackleg, which has been estimated to account for an average yield loss of 9.67 per cent. In more severe infections, yield losses can range up to 50 per cent.

While developing varieties with improved disease resistance is one important tool for reducing yield losses, producers are urged to apply a multi-pronged management approach including seed treatments for the widest possible disease protection. More on the latest research and best management practices follows.

Improved production

Dozens of field trials with the key products included in the LumiGEN package for canola have shown improved plant stands as well as improved canola yields. Demonstration trials with Lumiderm insecticide seed treatments have shown an average increase of 1.4 bushels of canola per acre and as much as a 35 per cent reduction in flea beetle damage.

Field trials with Lumiscend-treated canola seed show an increase of five to six more canola plants per square metre compared with plots of canola treated with other fungicide products.

“Lumiscend translocates through seedlings to inhibit the growth of the blackleg fungus, protecting the crop from emergence through the critical infection period,” says Ratzlaff.

With the LumiGEN corn package, producers can expect a similar combination of effective crop protection products, she says. The corn package includes Lumivia, a broad spectrum insecticide seed treatment for early season protection against key corn pests.

It also contains Lumiscend Pro, which, like the canola package, is also a unique combination of four active ingredients for long-lasting seed- and soil-borne disease protection against pythium, rhizoctonia, fusarium and corn head smut.

As well, the corn package includes Lumialza, a biological nematicide seed treatment product that helps protect corn roots for more than 80 days against a wide range of nematodes, including sting, needle, lance, stubby-root, root-knot, dagger and lesion. 

 “Although nematodes are impossible to detect with the naked eye, they can have a devastating effect on yield,” says Ratzlaff.

The LumiGEN soybean package includes Lumisena, a fungicide seed treatment protecting soybeans against phytophthora, as well as Lumiderm insecticides, providing broad spectrum protection from early season insect pests.

More on blackleg research

First detected in a Saskatchewan crop in 1975, blackleg — with its ever-increasing number of different strains — has spread across the Prairies. Made worse in recent years by tightened canola rotations, which allows the disease inoculum (Leptosphaeria maculans) to build up in the soil, severity can range up to as much as 50 per cent yield loss in affected crops.

Recently, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) researchers achieved a major milestone in getting a leg up on blackleg by gaining a much clearer picture of the unique strains of blackleg disease found in Canada.

Led by AAFC biology study leader (plant pathology) Fengqun Yu, a team of Saskatoon-based scientists recently completed the first large-scale resequencing of the blackleg pathogen in the world. They have used this resequencing to get an accurate view of Canadian populations of blackleg causing L. maculans.

Knowledge of the pathogen’s genetic variability and population structure, which can be measured using molecular markers, is key. Armed with this knowledge, researchers will be able to develop new strategies for better crop protection and improved blackleg resistance in Canadian canola crops.

A clearer picture of blackleg

Canadian strains have been previously characterized by relatively few molecular markers, which has made it difficult to detect the variation responsible for the pathogen’s ability to adapt. However, with the cost of DNA sequencing rapidly dropping, Yu’s team was able to select 162 strains taken from Western Canada in two separate decades. This allowed the team to get a much clearer view of Canadian populations than ever before.

“In a diversified population, the pathogens have many different genetic backgrounds, giving the disease greater ability to change, adapt and potentially take hold of a crop,” says Yu. “This ability to adapt makes it harder to control the disease, so a better understanding of pathogen genetics is key to helping growers protect their crops.”

The ultimate goal of understanding L. maculans is to improve crop protection measures. For example, it will provide crop breeders with information they can use when developing new canola cultivars with increased blackleg resistance.

Best management practices

While crop resistance is important, it is recommended producers follow an integrated management strategy. Recommendations from the Canola Council of Canada, particularly if the previous canola crop was infected severely with blackleg, is to follow a multi-pronged management approached.

Best management practices should include the following:

• Extend canola rotations. Tightened canola rotations allow for blackleg inoculum to build up within a field. Extending canola rotations (greater than a two-year break from canola) will allow more time for inoculum levels to decline as old canola stubble decomposes.
• Scout for disease. Look for internal stem blackening at ground level during swathing or straight cutting, or signs of the disease on stubble from the previous crop.
• Use resistant varieties. Plant either “resistant” (R) or “moderately resistant” (MR) cultivars. Resistant cultivars outperform susceptible or bin-run seed.
• Rotate resistance sources. Rotate cultivars by their major blackleg resistance gene. Similar to herbicide group rotation, rotating blackleg major resistance genes will slow the L. maculans races from becoming resistant toward these genes. Use a L. maculans race identification test to determine predominant L. maculans races in a field to help match appropriate resistance sources.
• Use a fungicide seed treatment product, which protects plants from blackleg when they are most susceptible. An early season foliar fungicide application can help prevent yield losses if applied during the cotyledon to two-leaf stage. Later foliar applications can help to reduce the inoculum in the field.

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A: Agricultural field pesticides are valuable tools to help growers control weeds, certain insects and crop disease. It is imperative that pesticides be used safely to protect both the applicator and the local environment.

Each pesticide will have details as to its safe use on the label. Symbols will give a first warning to the type of risk and the degree of risk. In addition, there will be important information on each label to help you understand the best method for handling a pesticide to minimize exposure. Before a new field season begins, it is wise to become familiar with these risks for each product you use on your farm.

When you prepare your sprayer trailer, it is an excellent idea to have a storage unit with personal protective equipment (PPE) and clothing. These should include chemical-resistant coveralls, gloves, hats and boots designed to protect you from pesticides. You should also have goggles, respirators and face shields available to the person mixing and applying pesticides. Finally, it’s important to have a means for handwashing with soap and contact information for local medical services and poison control.

Be prepared to contain and clean up any pesticide spills. Errant pesticide on a spray deck or soil quickly becomes a hazard to the health of the environment and people. Direct handling of a spill can expose a person to a high dose of pesticide, and contamination of surface or groundwater creates risk in the future. The first step is to prevent any spills, but it is as important to prepare for errors.

Training is important for the safe use of pesticides and the proper use of PPE. Before family members or farm employees begin handling pesticides, they should be fully aware and trained on all of the safety procedures specific to the product. Injury due to pesticides can be avoided, but only if the proper tools are available.

There are ways to be prepared if something goes wrong — first aid training for farms should include what you will do if contact is made with a pesticide. Have emergency numbers posted in easy-to-see places and make sure to invest in good PPE wherever possible — it could make a huge difference in a time of need.

Be pesticide smart — the health and safety of people and the environment depends on it.

Lyle Cowell, PAg, CCA, is a manager of agronomic services with Nutrien Ag Solutions in northeast Saskatchewan.

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These labels feature language such as “required,” “recommended” or “can be used” to help you understand which adjuvants are essential to your mix and which ones are optional. But it’s not as simple as it appears.

Expert Brent Flaten, crops extension specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, provided some answers on how best to use adjuvants.

Flaten says adjuvants are grouped into “activators or spray modifiers” that include surfactants and oils to keep the pesticide ingredients suspended in spray water and improve adherence to weeds/crops/insects. Other adjuvants improve performance by adjusting spray solution pH, lowering drift potential, or compensating for water characteristics such as hardness.

The adjuvants that absolutely must be added will be listed on the product label, and Flaten says “do not add anything beyond what’s listed on the label to be added without contacting the manufacturer. That includes micronutrients, which can affect performance of the product or due to chemical interactions could lead to crop burn.”

Sometimes the people answering the manufacturer’s toll-free lines, notes Flaten, may have limited field experience. Therefore, establishing a relationship with a local technical representative, who has a wider scope of in-field knowledge and experience, might be a good idea for some trustworthy advice.

“At the same time, you should double-check any advice with the manufacturer,” he adds, “regarding third-party sales pitches, as that salesperson may try to sell you a pH adjustor to improve performance, but it could very well already be in the formulation. You don’t want to waste money or negatively affect performance.”

Rory Cranston, Saskatchewan-based agronomic systems manager (cereals) for Bayer, says, thankfully, it’s not very common a pH adjustor would need to be added to a product where there was not a recommendation on the label to do so.

Also, if you have farm water that’s very acidic or basic for tank-mixing, “that would likely be a situation where an additional pH adjustor is required, but that would be something that would affect all products,” he adds.

Cranston explains Bayer and other companies do their best to make products that are as easy to use as possible (everything that’s needed is included in a single jug). He also notes Bayer tests all its new products with well-established adjuvants (mostly surfactants) for the three standard factors, which are chemical compatibility (that is, they don’t gel when put together), efficacy and crop safety. However, with newer surfactants, Bayer doesn’t have data on these factors and therefore can’t recommend their use with new Bayer products.

In terms of seeking advice, Cranston says whoever recommends a given surfactant with a given product must be the party prepared to accept responsibility and provide support if anything goes wrong. “I echo the guidance to talk to the manufacturer about adjuvants,” he says. “If you are talking to a trusted advisor or viewing information online, however, make sure the source can offer you proof on all three factors. Sometimes there is only compatibility that’s being referred to, but efficacy and crop safety matter.”

He also says no matter the surfactant included with or added to a product, proper spray management is key — using the right nozzle, speed, boom height, spraying in suitable environmental conditions, and so on.

Adjuvants improve a crop protection product’s activity by getting the product to the plant, on the plant and inside the plant, leading to better overall absorption. They also help pesticides perform consistently and to their full potential, says Shelby LaRose, proprietary products manager at Loveland Products Canada, based in Saskatchewan.

“Adjuvants are not the ‘silver bullet’ for ideal spray solutions but they will keep your crop protection product solution on-target and working in the most efficient and effective way,” says LaRose.

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These labels feature language such as “required,” “recommended” or “can be used” to help you understand which adjuvants are essential to your mix and which ones are optional. But it’s not as simple as it appears.

To get some answers on how best to use adjuvants and what not to do, we contacted experts such as Brent Flaten, crops extension specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

Flaten says adjuvants are grouped into “activators or spray modifiers” that include surfactants and oils to keep the pesticide ingredients suspended in spray water and improve adherence to weeds/crops/insects. Other adjuvants improve performance by adjusting spray solution pH, lowering drift potential, or compensating for water characteristics such as hardness.

The adjuvants that absolutely must be added will be listed on the product label, and Flaten says “do not add anything beyond what’s listed on the label to be added without contacting the manufacturer. That includes micronutrients, which can affect performance of the product or due to chemical interactions, could lead to crop burn.”

Sometimes the people answering the manufacturer’s toll-free lines, notes Flaten, may have limited field experience. Therefore, establishing a relationship with a local technical representative (if you don’t have one already) who has a wider scope of in-field knowledge and experience might be a good idea for some trustworthy advice, especially when involving what not to do.

“At the same time, you should double-check any advice with the manufacturer,” he adds, “regarding third-party sales pitches, as that salesperson may try to sell you a pH adjustor to improve performance, but it could very well already be in the formulation. You don’t want to waste money or negatively affect performance.”

Rory Cranston, Saskatchewan-based agronomic systems manager (cereals) for Bayer, says, thankfully, it’s not very common a pH adjustor would need to be added to a product where there was not a recommendation on the label to do so.

Also, if you have farm water that’s very acidic or basic for tank-mixing, “that would likely be a situation where an additional pH adjustor is required, but that would be something that would affect all products,” he adds.

Cranston explains Bayer and other companies do their best to make products that are as easy to use as possible (everything that’s needed is included in a single jug). He also notes Bayer tests all its new products with well-established adjuvants (mostly surfactants) for the three standard factors, which are chemical compatibility (that is, they don’t gel when put together), efficacy and crop safety. However, with newer surfactants, Bayer doesn’t have data on these factors and therefore can’t recommend their use with new Bayer products.

In terms of seeking advice, Cranston says whoever recommends a given surfactant with a given product must be the party prepared to accept responsibility and provide support if anything goes wrong. “I echo the guidance to talk to the manufacturer about adjuvants,” he says. “If you are talking to a trusted advisor or viewing information online, however, make sure the source can offer you proof on all three factors. Sometimes there is only compatibility that’s being referred to, but efficacy and crop safety matter.”

He also says no matter the surfactant included with or added to a product, proper spray management is key — using the right nozzle, speed, boom height, spraying in suitable environmental conditions, and so on.

Adjuvants improve a crop protection product’s activity by getting the product to the plant, on the plant and inside the plant, leading to better overall absorption. They also help pesticides perform consistently and to their full potential, says Shelby LaRose, proprietary products manager at Loveland Products Canada, based in Saskatchewan.

“Adjuvants are not the ‘silver bullet’ for ideal spray solutions but they will keep your crop protection product solution on-target and working in the most efficient and effective way,” says LaRose. “There are many adjuvants on the market and, as always, please consult your trusted advisor for recommendations, the manufacturer’s labels for direction and the specific pesticide labs for guidelines. All this advice will set you up for the best success in 2020.”

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It is probably a slight exaggeration to say having lunch with the fairly new-to-Canada country manager of Nufarm is really an Aussie invasion, but Lachie McKinnon is the second Australian I have met in the past 20 years or so who has come to Canada to market their wares. The first was Didsbury, Alta., area rancher Graeme Finn, who showed up about a decade ago extolling the virtues of the Australian-made Agrowplow seeding and tillage equipment. Finn is no longer with Agrowplow but like a bad penny, he’s still involved in all sorts of things and turns up everywhere. (If you need some unique and productive forage seed blends call Union Forage). We’ll see how McKinnon does.

And as all farmers know Nufarm isn’t exactly a new name on the Canadian crop protection scene. Founded in Melbourne, Australia in mid-1950s, it began manufacturing and marketing crop protection products from its Calgary plant in the late 1990s. (That plant was closed a couple years ago. Apparently it wasn’t good optics having an ag chemical plant a few blocks south of the Burnsland Cemetery in southeast Calgary. That was just a bad joke. By all accounts closing the plant here and consolidating manufacturing and distribution operations to the U.S. was totally about business and not about any health concerns — although I have noticed there are no dandelions in the Burnsland Cemetery.)

Nufarm’s first claim to fame was to develop and market products built around long-established pheonxy herbicides such as 2,4-D and MCPA and its portfolio has grown over the years.

But, all good products as far as I can tell. I remember making a couple field trips years ago with Nufarm’s then marketing and communication specialist Wayne Karlowski to look at some very dead weeds. I actually forget the products — it might have been Credit or CleanStart — but if you had those wolfy, old deep-rooted dandelions it really did a number on them. It not only killed the dandelions on your field, but at least weakened most within a 30-mile radius — it was that good. Just bringing the product packaging to the field made weeds tremble.

Moving up the middle

Nufarm has in my mind been sort of a back-burner company when it came to crop protection products. Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta and BASF were among the front line players, but then, oh, yeah, maybe Nufarm has something. McKinnon says Nufarm isn’t looking to be the Alpha wolf in the crop protection pack. But while the major players are doing their thing, Nufarm is steadily and purposely weaving its way up the middle of the field filling those weed control niches.

They’re not searching for new chemistries, but are re-working some of the effective, long-established active ingredients to give or renew their fit in your farm’s overall crop protection program. Helping farmers manage herbicide resistance in weeds, by using these established chemistries, usually in a blend with other chemistries, is one of Nufarm’s main product and marketing objectives.

Australia is a continent all too familiar with the impact of herbicide resistance in cereal, oilseed and pulse crop production. Nufarm isn’t wearing a super-hero cape but it’s hoping its portfolio of products, strategically used, will help Canadian farmers avoid the same fate.

I won’t hold it against McKinnon that he didn’t bring me an amazing Nufarm pen at this lunch, fortunately my Bayer pen is still working quite well. And to his credit he does seem very personable, after 30 years in the business also very knowledgeable, and although he has a bit of an Aussie accent, it’s a bonus he doesn’t need an interpreter.

One lesson I was reminded of at this luncheon — don’t be the first to order. I went for my standby burger and fries and everyone else ordered salad. I figured someone had to stick up for the Canadian beef producers and southern Alberta potato growers. And maybe it becomes a bit obvious, too, who is being swayed the devious lettuce growers lobby. I am totally above that, unless they have really nice pens.

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“We’re selling our crops mostly into export, and our exports markets are very sensitive to residual levels of different crop protection products that we use,” said Alberta Wheat Commission chair Kevin Auch, who farms near Carmangay.

“If we don’t use them properly, we can actually endanger those markets.”

Maximum residue limits can differ from product to product and country to country. Some countries base their limits on the internationally recognized Codex Alimentarius, but others don’t — which can create some challenges when it comes time to market grain.

“It can be a fuzzy area to deal with,” said Sheryl Tittlemier, a research scientist with the Canadian Grain Commission.

“Many of these regulations are not easy to locate, and they may be changing or being re-evaluated. It takes effort to find the appropriate information — it can be challenging for us to get this information too, even with all of our experience.

“I can’t imagine the effort required for someone just beginning to wrap their head around this.”

While the Canadian Grain Commission randomly samples bulk export vessels for residues from more than 120 different chemicals, markets like China can test imports for over 400 chemicals, and have a zero tolerance policy on any residues found.

“An importing country that finds pesticides in grain coming from Canada that do not meet their regulations could see that as a health issue and take action against grain coming from Canada,” said Tittlemier.

“I would say that the likelihood of this appears low based on our monitoring data — we hardly detect any pesticides in Canadian grain exports. However, the potential fallout from a situation occurring is large, particularly if an isolated incident leads to a negative perception that spreads to all grain from Canada.”

In some cases, said Auch, shipments have got close to the maximum residue limits, so “it’s on the radar for some of these countries.”

“If we’re getting close to the maximum, probably there are some farmers who are exceeding those levels and it’s being blended in with guys who aren’t,” he said. “You don’t want to be doing too much of that. If everyone is exceeding those levels, then we will have problems in those markets.”

So far, no shipments of Canadian grain have been rejected because they exceeded the maximum residue limits, but “it could very easily happen if we’re not diligent,” he said.

“If farmers don’t realize it’s a problem, it’s not a problem to that farmer,” said Auch. “We’re trying to alert everybody that this could potentially be a big problem.”

Mitigating the risk

At this point, producers should talk to their grain buyers and “closely consider” which pre-harvest products they’re going to use, as well as making note of any other chemicals they used during the growing season.

“There are a number of products that, even though they are registered for use in Canada, grain treated with them is not going to be accepted at elevators,” said Tittlemier.

Members of the Western Grain Elevator Association, which consists of Western Canada’s major grain companies, won’t buy crops in the new 2017-18 crop year (which started Aug. 1) that have been treated with the following products:

• Chlormequat (Manipulator plant growth regulator) on wheat or any other cereal.
• Quinclorac (including Clever Dry Flow Herbicide) on canola.
• Metconazole (including Quash fungicide) on canola.
• Saflufenacil (Heat LQ) used pre-harvest on flax.
• Fluoxastrobin (including Evito fungicide) on soybeans.
• Benzovindiflupyr (Solatenol) (including Elatus Co-Pack or Trivapro Co-Pack fungicide) on soybeans.

(These five pesticides are listed in the Declaration of Eligibility for Delivery form farmers must sign before delivering grain to an elevator.)

Beyond that, producers should always read and follow the label directions.

“It’s almost cliché, but it is very important — make sure that you’re applying your crop protection products at the right rate and the right times on the right crop,” said Auch.

“If you don’t, that’s where the problems come in.”

With pre-harvest glyphosate, for instance, spraying too early can lead to low levels of the chemical in the grain itself — and “our buyers don’t want to be buying our grain with levels of glyphosate.”

“It should be common sense. But when a guy is busy and it’s harvest time, there is a tendency to cut corners,” said Auch. “Don’t cut those corners because it could jeopardize our markets, and we don’t want to jeopardize our markets. That’s the lifeblood of our farms.

“If we lose them, what are we going to do with 80 per cent of the crop that we grow?”

For more information, go to www.keepingitclean.ca.

– With files from Allan Dawson, this article originally appeared on the Alberta Farmer Express.

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