The provincial government of Ontario “is moving to take the sting out of pesticides that are killing bees,” says the Toronto Star. On July 1, Ontario will be first jurisdiction in North America to limit plantings of corn and soybean seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides, says The Star, which quotes the province’s agriculture minister as saying the new rules would reduce plantings of the seeds by 80 percent.
For 2016 crops, farmers will be allowed to use neonic-coated seeds on up to 50 percent of their corn and soybean land, with exemptions for growers who prove they have pest problems. In 2017, all farmers wanting to use neonic-treated seeds will have to prove they have pests, said the Star.
“The phase-out will be a challenge – almost all the corn seed and 60 percent of soybean seed sold in Ontario is currently treated with the insecticides,” said the Star.
Neonics have been blamed, along with parasitic mites, diseases, poor nutrition and genetics, for large population losses of honeybees, an important pollinator of hundreds of crops. Two bee-keeping companies filed a class-action suit against two makers of neonics, blaming them for bee losses.
Ontario is giving farmers and seed dealers slightly more time than originally suggested “to manage some of their new duties as the province’s limits on neonicotinoid pesticides become legally binding,” said Country Guide. “Once fully phased in, the regulations will require farmers who use neonic-treated corn and soybean seed to take training in integrated pest management (IPM) practices, and to get pest assessments and/or scouting on fields before treated seed can be used.