The Canadian Alliance is calling for a moratorium on technical use
agreement fees, or TUAs, charged by companies like Monsanto for using
its Roundup Ready canola.
In a recently released drought crisis report, the official opposition
party said farmers are being forced to pay several dollars an acre on
TUAs when they have little to no crop. The party is asking companies
that charge those fees to give farmers a break this year.
Monsanto Canada spokesperson Trish Jordan said the company has had its
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Roundup Ready Risk Share Program in place since 1999, which does just
that.
The program is available to producers who grow Roundup Ready canola and
use Roundup herbicides. The only conditions are that they have to
register their claim before July 1 and take the crop out of production
after that.
“Everybody who has registered a claim prior to July 1 and takes their
crop out of production will have their technical fee either waived or
returned if they have actually paid it.”
She estimates the company will be returning $9-$13 million to 3,500
growers across Western Canada this year, which she called a “pretty
darn significant” amount of money.
“We cranked through a ton of paperwork because we knew the stress that
these guys were under,” said Jordan.
In the three years before the 2002 drought, Monsanto returned $6
million to 2,500 farmers, waiving fees on about 150,000 acres of
canola. This year, it’s expected that 600,000-900,000 acres of Roundup
Ready canola won’t be harvested.
Canadian Alliance agriculture critic Howard Hillstrom said farmers he
has spoken with have expressed an interest in Monsanto extending its
July 1 deadline because of the severity of the drought. That’s why the
party wants to discuss placing a temporary moratorium on TUA fees.
“It would be something that is totally up to Monsanto to decide what
they would like to do,” said Hillstrom during a recent visit to a
Saskatchewan farm.
Jordan wonders why Monsanto is being singled out in News release
newssent
by the Canadian Alliance. She said other companies that have TUAs don’t
offer farmers the same risk share program that Monsanto does.
“Why don’t they go find out what other companies are doing?”
Jordan said Monsanto’s program will benefit 3,500 farmers this year and
is working the way it should. She said the company will not change its
July 1 deadline.
“Our program was designed specifically to protect growers from early
season risks. It was not developed to cover growers for the entire
growing season.”
She doesn’t think there are many farmers who missed the July 1
deadline. For those who did, it is an unfortunate reality that is not
going to change because of a request from the Canadian Alliance, she
said.
