Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), as Canada’s federal pesticide regulator, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency, PMRA, published the information note, “Vertical farming and pest control products” on May 1, 2024, in order to ensure the health and safety of Canadians and the environment. Due to rising confusion within the user industry surrounding whether they could use pesticides labelled for greenhouses in vertical farming, and to help provincial partners address this, the PMRA felt the publication of this information note would aid in clearing up any potential confusion.
In Canada, pesticides are federally regulated under the Pest Control Products Act, PCPA, which is administered by Health Canada’s PMRA. As stipulated under the PCPA, a pesticide may only be permitted to be used or sold in Canada after it has undergone a rigorous scientific assessment process that provides reasonable certainty that no harm to human health and the environment will occur, and that products have value, when used according to label directions. Under the Pest Control Products Regulations, pesticide label directions must include any use limitations, including the intended site for the use of a pesticide, e.g., greenhouses, and procedures to reduce risks associated with that use must be included on the product label.
There is currently not sufficient data for Health Canada to assess the hazards and risks associated with vertical farming, such as occupational and dietary exposure risks and how the pesticide breaks down in the work environment after application under vertical farming conditions. This lack of availability of the required scientific data is a result of this method of crop protection being relatively new. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of those involved in current vertical farming practices in Canada, PMRA issued an information note to inform all parties of the requirement for this registered use on pesticide products.
With regard to part (b), it is important to note that each intended site for the use of a pesticide, i.e., use site category, USC, has mandatory and specific data requirements that must be submitted with an application to register a pesticide for sale or use in Canada. This information is listed on the PMRA webpage Use Site Category (DACO Tables).
Vertical farming differs from greenhouse growing in various aspects including air circulation, lighting and plant density. These differences can affect how much pesticide a worker is exposed to, how long the pesticide remains on the treated plants, how much may be transferred to skin and clothing, etc. The PMRA is in the process of investigating how these differences may affect potential risks of pesticide use in vertical farming, and what, if any, amendments to data requirements would be needed to register pesticides for this use.
With regard to part (c), there have been no dedicated exchanges or correspondence between Health Canada’s PMRA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, USEPA, on this topic. However, the PMRA outlined its efforts to learn more about this new technology in October 2022 and November 2023, at the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, CUSMA, meetings of the North American Trilateral Technical Working Group on Pesticides. Regulatory officials from the USEPA were present at both meetings.
With regard to part (d), to date, Health Canada’s PMRA has not received any applications for the specific use of pesticides in vertical farming.