SASKATOON – Since the inception of Canada’s minor-use pesticide program, 90 new pesticide uses have been registered on a range of different crops.
On the Prairies, that includes 16 new registrations on 38 different crops.
“We have 17 others we’re working on, with five in the submission phase, four in the analytical phase and four have been completed and are in the reporting phase,” said Eric Johnson, a researcher with Agriculture Canada at the Scott Research Centre in Scott, Sask.
Speaking at Pulse Crop Days in Saskatoon last week, Johnson said he’s been involved in the minor-use pesticide program since 2003.
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“A minor use pesticide is a herbicide, fungicide or insecticide where the market is not sufficiently large enough for a company to invest the research dollars required to get that registered. It can be a pesticide in a minor crop or it can be a minor pest in a major crop.
“It’s modelled after the United States IR4 program and has a lot of harmonization with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Our research farm at Scott is the study site for the prairies and we generate the data that’s required for registration.”
That data includes efficacy data, which examines whether the product does what the label says it does. Johnson said he also has to prove the crop is tolerant at the rates applied, using a 2X safety rate for overlaps.
“We have to prove that crop will tolerate the pesticide even at rates double the application rate. In some situations we also have to provide crop residue data, where MRLs (maximum residue levels) are developed. Those are fairly in-depth studies and require that we follow a procedure known as good laboratory practices.”
Recent minor use registrations for pulse crops grown in Western Canada include Roundup Weathermax preharvest in chickpeas, faba beans and lupins. The grass herbicides Select and Centurion have been registered for fenugreek, along with Odyssey.
Submissions include sulfentrazone for chickpeas and Poast Ultra in fenugreek. Odyssey is in the analytical phase in faba beans.
“I’m not condoning the use of unregistered products,” stressed Johnson. “These pesticides are not registered in pulse crops in Western Canada and they cannot be used until the registration process is complete.”
