Agriculture committee  First of all, I think Canada has done a great job. The PMRA has done a great job in making the science-based regulatory system we have here. The way we do that is through continuous research and continuous investment in understanding the technology and the products we're working

Agriculture committee  Yes. GFO is supporting it. I mentioned our partners in that, but basically the research is being run by Tracey Baute, an entomologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and Dr. Art Schaafsma, who is with the University of Guelph. They are overseeing this research.

Agriculture committee  Between 1995 and 2003. The current products on the market were in that timeframe.

Agriculture committee  Neonics have been used for between 10 and 13 years in the province of Ontario, or since Diazinon Lindane officially came off the market in 2004. As I said, most of it was probably off the market by 2001. We've been using neonics since that time, in both Ontario and Quebec. There

Agriculture committee  We've worked with OMAF on corn very specifically. I'm not talking about canola. For corn, they've estimated losses of anywhere from 3 to 20 bushels to the acre without the insecticide, depending on the populations of wireworm, seed maggot, and white grub in the soils. If we too

Agriculture committee  In terms of seed treatments, as I mentioned, lindane was taken off the market. Diazinon Lindane is a product farmers used up until 2004. Most of it was taken off the market in about 2001. The current insecticides that we have on our seeds are safer to farmers than the D and L, an

Agriculture committee  Can I just add to that? I believe Mr. Valeriote mentioned the perfect storm. The year 2012 was very unusual. Where I come from, the southwest part of the province, virtually all of the corn was planted in April, which is not always usual because I can tell you that in 2011 we nev

Agriculture committee  We worked with the PMRA in putting together what we would call best management practices for corn seeding. The head entomologist for OMAF was involved in putting these together as well. In those best management practices, some things seem quite simple, but the reality is that w

Agriculture committee  I would suggest that certainly we can be aware. The first thing is communication between the local farmer and a beekeeper in his area, so the farmer knows exactly where the aviary is or where the hives are located, because they do move them around during the season. During the pl

Agriculture committee  Using Ontario statistics, the average yield was 149 bushels to the acre in the province of Ontario this past year. It was 151 bushels the year before. If you took a 150-bushel average in corn and you talked about a 10% stand loss, that would be the equivalent of 15 bushels to the

Agriculture committee  Obviously bees are a number one pollinator, so depending on the crop—certainly the fruit crops, the vegetable crops, flowering crops. When you think of a pretty flower, bees are critical in pollinating those crops, which is basically the transfer that creates yield. So they are c

Agriculture committee  Good morning. I'm John Cowan, representing the Grain Farmers of Ontario. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to present the Grain Farmers' position on this very important matter of bee pollinator health in the country. For a little background, the Grain Farmers of Ontario