KILLAM, Alta. – Farmers who didn’t spray their fields this year may be
able to sell their crop for a premium through a pesticide-free
marketing group.
Brenda Tjaden Lepp with the Pesticide Free Production Farmers’
Co-operative was crossing the Prairies recently searching for
pesticide-free grain she may be able to sell through the co-op for a
premium price.
She said one company has offered an $80 a tonne premium for
pesticide-free flax, while another offered 20 cents a bushel for
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Farmers have committed between 10,000 and 12,000 acres of production
for sale and Tjaden Lepp is searching for more.
Killam, Alta., farmer Darrell Holmstrom said he didn’t spray some of
his fields because of the dry spring and is willing to look at selling
the grain through the co-op.
“I’m looking at this for a premium,” he said during a field crop tour.
While not interested in organic grain production, Holmstrom likes the
idea of getting a premium for not using pesticides on a field for one
year.
“This is a more practical approach. It allows me to deal with a problem
of serious pests.”
Tjaden Lepp said the co-op’s biggest mandate is to allow farmers to
make more money. Key to this will be the price premium and saving money
through not spraying.
“Our central focus is to increase farm profit margins,” said Tjaden
Lepp of Brunkild, Man., who was hired to manage and launch a formal
sales and marketing strategy.
“We are going to find premium prices or people just aren’t going to be
interested.”
She hopes to find a 20 percent price premium on all grain.
Eligible grain must be grown on a field that isn’t sprayed with
pesticides for one year. Seed treatments, fungicides and in-crop
sprayings aren’t allowed, but spraying weeds with a chemical such as
Roundup in the spring before seeding is acceptable. The field must be
inspected and certified as pesticide free.
