The federal government is apparently initiating a plan that would eliminate the requirement that fertilizers undergo efficacy testing before they are allowed on the market.
A study of the pros and cons of such a change suggests farmers could benefit.
Presently, fertilizer products entering the market must be tested for efficacy and to ensure they are safe for people, plants, animals and the environment.
The rules for safety would not change.
The efficacy tests now carried out vary from simple calculations to analysis of complex statistical data and plot trial evaluations. But in all cases, the efficacy claims on the product label must be verifiable by science and the product benefits must be substantiated.
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Doing away with these tests would mould the Canadian system into one similar to what exists in the United States.
That system survives on the assumption that inferior products, or those that don’t work at all, will be swept off the market by their own shortcomings.
Products that fail won’t sell once the word gets around. And in this information age, in which social media tools like Twitter can buoy a revolution, word gets around more quickly than at any other time in human history.
Farmers are a sophisticated lot with access to all manner of crop advisers, research information and agronomy knowledge.
Does anybody seriously think that they are going to risk their livelihoods by using magical potions sold by those fabled snake oil salesmen in Depression-era stories?
Successful farm operators simply don’t operate that way. Some might test a new product on an acre here or a plot there, but they are not going to jeopardize whole fields or entire harvests on untried, flash-in-the-pan products.
Eliminating the efficacy test could be a further boon for farmers, once the delays for registration approvals are reduced, sending more competing products into the marketplace.
Additional new products would also likely be encouraged to enter the Canadian market thanks to a simplified registration system.
And more competing products on the market should translate into more competitive pricing, while also helping to ensure that Canadian farmers have access to the same products as the American farmers they compete against in international markets.
But there is a rub. There always is.
Chief among them could be a deluge of ineffective products and scandalous label claims, which even if they don’t dupe farmers, could cause a storm of confusion, enough to leave many people struggling to find the truth.
However, there are other laws in place to deal with these situations, without locking fertilizer efficacy testing into the registration regulations.
Canada has consumer protection laws that prohibit misleading label claims and deceptive marketing practices.
Government must ensure farmers and all consumers are educated about these laws and how to access agencies and seek reprisals when required. As well, Ottawa should take great pains to ensure it has an active, aggressive enforcer of consumer fraud legislation.
But with these contingencies in place, the proposed changes appear to offer a better deal for farmers.
