The all-party House of Commons agriculture committee drew farmer praise last week for unanimously recommending to Parliament that herbicide imports under the Own Use Import program be maintained for the next two crop years while a new program is designed.
The recommendation requested that health minister Tony Clement instruct the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to keep OUI for 2007 and 2008.
The motion came after PMRA executive director Karen Dodds told MPs on the committee Dec. 12 that she could not commit to retaining the OUI program past this year. Members of an own-use task force are in the middle of evaluating progress toward a new program called the Grower Requested Own Use, or GROU, program.
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The OUI program, started in 2005 as a way for farmers to import cheaper generic versions of herbicide for their own use in the year it is imported, has been popular with farmers. In 2006, more than 3,000 producers received import permits and imported 6.4 million litres of the glyphosate product ClearOut 41 Plus.
With uncertainty about whether the rules of GROU would make it more difficult to import product, MPs decided that farmers should be able to keep the program they know and use for at least two more years.
The House of Commons did not approve the committee recommendation before it adjourned Dec. 13 for a six-week Christmas break.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen praised MPs on the committee for their work on the issue.
