AS OF Earth Day, April 22, Canada’s two largest provinces have banned the cosmetic use of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Other provinces are predicted to follow suit.
Ontario’s announcement of the ban, with the list of verboten products yet to be provided, adds weight to a movement which Quebec and an estimated 140 urban communities across Canada have joined.
Such developments are a concern to those involved in Canadian agriculture.
If urban populations accept these bans as indications that various herbicides and pesticides are inherently unsafe, bans on agricultural use of these products are a possibility.
Read Also
Topsy-turvy precipitation this year challenges crop predictions
Rainfall can vary dramatically over a short distance. Precipitation maps can’t catch all the deviations, but they do provide a broad perspective.
If you think food all over the world is expensive now, envision what the cost might be should a prohibition on farm chemical use drastically reduce food production – as it most certainly would.
Those who would extend such bans to agricultural chemicals lose sight of the fact that these products serve a purpose: to increase productivity by reducing weed competition, reducing crop disease or reducing insect damage.
There’s no point in being alarmist, however. The Ontario announcement stipulates a ban specifically on certain chemicals applied solely for the sake of appearances.
That’s clearly not the issue for Canada’s farmers involved in food and energy production.
To determine the correct product and application rate, they employ their experience and often that of agrologists and other crop protection specialists.
Overuse is not only cost prohibitive, but wastefully ineffective.
Compare that to urban homeowners’ use, where there is no guarantee that the chemical purchased is the right one for the job, nor whether it is correctly applied, used in the proper manner or with the correct concentration or dosage.
The sad fact, however, is that science often fails to carry sufficient weight when it comes to public opinion, as producers in various sectors have had the misfortune to learn. It was seen during international public outcry over BSE, for example.
Will we next see it in regard to agricultural chemicals, all of which have been tested by the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency and found to pose no unacceptable risk to human health? Will science be trumped by uninformed public opinion?
It’s vital that farmers and others in the agricultural industry educate the public about integrated pest management, which often includes judicious use of agricultural chemicals as well as biological controls and tillage to control unwanted plants and pests.
Many who promote a wholesale return to organic production fail to fully account for the ever-shrinking amount of arable land and the ever-growing population that has to be fed in the future.
People engaged in agriculture must monitor urban-based bans of chemicals. Such events should not be allowed to become the thin edge of the wedge that will reduce food production when the world needs it most.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen, D’Arce McMillan and Ken Zacharias collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
