Policy: 2017

NFU submission to the Senate Ag Committee Climate Change study

Potential Impact of the effects of Climate Change on the Agriculture, Agri-Food and Forestry Sectors

The Senate Committee invited the NFU to present our views on the potential impacts of climate change on agriculture and farmers. The following is an excerpt from the brief presented on April 11, 2017: The Senate Committee invited the NFU to present our views on the potential impacts of climate change on agriculture and farmers. The following is an excerpt from the brief presented on April 11, 2017: Mitigation measures -- ways to reduce emissions and ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere -- should also promote adaptation and resilience. Redundancy and diversity are the keys to resilience. If farmers produce a range of products and incorporate natural buffers into the farm landscape they will be better able to survive unpredictable climatic conditions, extreme weather events and erratic market conditions. Farmers manage millions of acres of land in Canada, and with the right support, can make a huge contribution by building soil organic carbon.

NFU submission to PMRA on the Proposed Decision on Imidacloprid

The proposed regulatory decision would phase out over three to five years, all outdoor agricultural, ornamental, turf, and tree uses (except tree injection uses) and greenhouse uses of imidacloprid insecticide and would restrict its use to very limited applications such as flea treatment for pets and injection of trees for control of emerald-ash borer. The decision would also implement additional precautionary measures to protect human and ecosystem health during the phase-out period. We believe this proposed decision is a positive step and we fully support it. We also urge the PMRA to implement effective monitoring and enforcement to ensure compliance with the new label restrictions during the phase-out period. We urge Health Canada to work with Environment Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to promote alternative, less toxic insecticides and non-chemical agriculture techniques for the management of insect pests in general, with a focus on the crops currently using imidacloprid. We strongly encourage federal and provincial governments to assist farmers in adopting such products and methods in order to reduce the quantity of toxic agricultural chemicals being applied to our farmland.