A bulk buyer of farm inputs says it has a line on a cheap supply of glyphosate that could save farmers millions of dollars, but its efforts to import it have been stymied by Canadian authorities.
Farmers of North America Inc. wants to exploit a seldom-used importation program to bring an American product called ClearOut, manufactured by Chemical Products Technologies LLC, into Canada.
But it must first prove to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency that the product is equivalent to glyphosates like Roundup, Vantage and Glyphos already sold in Canada.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
The FNA said it has been pursuing an Own Use Importation permit through the federal government regulator for almost three years. Every time it makes a submission, there is something missing or done wrong.
“They tell us very specifically what we need. We come back and they say, ‘OK, that’s what we need, but now we need it on a different colour paper,” said Craig Kury, vice-president of business development at FNA.
“Clearly there is a mandate to try and prevent this from happening,” he said.
PMRA spokesperson Chris Krepski said there is no such agenda.
“We base our evaluations purely on science.”
Pesticide regulation is a complicated business that can take a long time, he said. It requires approximately 20,000 pages of data on everything from human health and environmental implications to efficacy concerns to register a new active ingredient.
Kury claims conventional farmers could save $2 per litre on glyphosate if ClearOut was sold in Canada. Other manufacturers would eventually have to follow suit and drop their prices, resulting in an estimated $40 million annual saving on agricultural input purchases.
FNA officials say glyphosate prices have been plummeting in the U.S., making Canadian farmers less competitive with their U.S. counterparts.
Kury suggested the PMRA is in cahoots with Monsanto, one of three companies supplying the active ingredient used in Canadian glyphosate.
Monsanto spokesperson Trish Jordan said that is an absurd accusation.
“He can have all sorts of conspiracy theories but in reality, that’s not the way the system works. Everybody has to go through the same rules,” she said. “The process certainly doesn’t involve Monsanto.”
Krepski agreed Kury’s suspicions are unfounded. He said the PMRA will continue to work with the FNA on getting its submission approved.
The regulatory agency recently determined ClearOut has the same active ingredient as other glyphosate products used in Canada but now the FNA must show the end-use product is equivalent as well.
“In case there is any differences in the formulation which could make things react differently or whatever,” said Krepski.
Despite another setback, Kury said he is optimistic an import permit is within reach. The PMRA said if it is satisfied with the next two tests, it will start issuing permits to farmers.
“There has been no time in the past where they have verbally said to us, ‘Look, you do this and you’ve got it.’ That in itself is pretty exciting,” said Kury.
He anticipates that if the Own Use Importation submission is approved, “millions of gallons” of cheap product will flood across the border.
