By Alice McFarlane

Farm groups respond to PMRA proposal about tank mix labelling

Oct 29, 2020 | 2:41 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (Sask Wheat) is expressing concern about a new proposal coming from the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada.

PMRA is proposing a change to Tank Mix Labelling Rules.

Sask Wheat general manager Harvey Brooks said it has raised several red flags. He said the practice is essentially how farmers have been regulated for about the last 10 years.

“Up until this point PMRA has allowed producers to mix chemicals in the same tank when they are going out to spray their fields even though there is no tank mix label as long as they follow the label instructions for each chemical that they’re using,” Brooks said.

The new PMRA proposal is a reversal of that long-standing guideline. Brooks said there is a proposal that each individual tank mix, if it’s not specifically included on a label, would not be considered allowable.

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“It creates some issues because when producers are making multiple applications of chemicals on their crops. They’re doing it in a fashion that needs to be timely, they don’t want to go over the field too many times. There’s a cost issue as well,” Brooks said.

Sask Wheat sent a letter to PMRA stating the proposal would increase producers’ environmental impact and hurt their competitiveness by reducing operating margins.

Brooks said Sask Wheat does not think the proposed change is driven by any safety issue and more discussion is needed to make sure there are not any undue consequences for grain producers.

“We do support the mandate of PMRA to ensure protection of both human health and the environment but if there are no safety or environmental concern driving this then we do think this should really have a lot more consultation,” Brooks said. “We’ll wait for a certain amount of time and then we’ll push and make sure we get a response.”

You can read the Sask Wheat letter to PMRA here.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF