The canola industry must come together and provide a market for farmers who on good faith used a herbicide containing quinclorac.
The product is approved for use in Canada, but Japan, a market worth $1.2 billion for Canadian canola growers, has not yet established a maximum residue limit (MRL) for it.
Until Japan sets an MRL, it will accept no canola containing residue of the chemical.
To protect this market, members of the Western Grain Elevator Association, which includes most canola buyers, won’t accept canola sprayed with quinclorac.
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Regardless, farmers did not learn about the situation until after most canola was seeded and well into the spraying season.
Various industry players are now pointing the finger of blame at each other.
However, while they work out larger issues, they should agree to help the small number of farmers who used the herbicide to solve this marketing dilemma not of their making.
The situation began with the industry looking for a control solution for cleavers, a growing weed problem in canola.
Quinclorac, the active ingredient in the herbicide Clever sold by Great Northern Growers, controls cleavers.
Great Northern Growers applied to have the product label extended to include canola.
The co-ordination of approvals is complex whenever a new crop protection product or seed variety is introduced, both in the country where they will be used and in importing countries.
When co-ordination is lacking there is a risk for costly market disruptions, as the flax industry learned with Triffid.
The Canola Council of Canada says it asked Great Northern Growers not to commercialize Clever until Japan had established an MRL. But Great Northern started selling Clever once the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency approved it for use on canola May 29.
It was not until the fourth week of June that canola buyers and the canola council issued warnings about use of the product.
So for more than three weeks, farmers could buy and use the product without being aware of the market issue.
Great Northern Growers says Canadian grain buyers are being overly cautious. Several large canola markets have MRLs, and the company expects Japan will follow suit early in the new marketing year.
It suggests buyers could segregate quinclorac-treated seed and sell it into markets with MRLs. Buyers counter that no segregation system is perfect and there is always a risk that quinclorac-treated seed could get into Japan, causing it to reject cargoes.
Additional friction is generated by Great Northern’s frisky image as a disruptive force, importing low cost herbicides, marketing directly to farmers and bypassing the established crop input manufacturing and distribution system.
However, it should cool the rhetoric and find a way to work with the canola council and buyers so that farmers who used the herbicide are not hurt. The solution might be to simply bin the canola until Japan has the approvals in place.
A robust segregation plan might also work.
However, on no account should these farmers be left hanging.
