Grain Farmers walk out of neonic talks

Grain Farmers of Ontario Delivers United Message to Minister Leal

News release from Grain Farmers of Ontario

Grain Farmers of Ontario’s commitment to pollinator health and environment stewardship is unyielding. The farm sector will be at the table with government to secure a future for Ontario’s family farmers.

On December 18th, Grain Farmers of Ontario and farm sector partners attended the Ontario government consultation meeting on the proposed regulation to arbitrarily restrict the use of neonicotinoid seed treatment on corn and soybeans. Statements were given by grain farmers and their partners to the government opposing this regulation made outside of science. Following this portion of the consultation, Grain Farmers of Ontario, with the support of farm sector partners, moved to a separate meeting to discuss a sustainable approach to the future of family farming.

The government’s consultation meeting was held, not to discuss the impracticality of the regulations, but rather to discuss the implementation of the proposed regulations and suggestions on how to achieve the unscientific goals described in the proposal.

Grain Farmers of Ontario will not have any part of discussing the implementation of unscientific, ill-informed regulations that will put the Ontario grain industry in a dire situation. The proposed regulations do not focus on pollinator health and bee keeping practices, are not conducive to environmental stewardship, and are positioned to end family farming across the province.

Ontario’s grain farmers ask the Premier and the Ontario government to come back to the table and collaborate on a real solution to protect pollinators and the environment. Grain Farmers of Ontario has established a Pollinator Task Force with many stakeholders, including bee keepers, and will be consulting farmers across the province throughout January. Feedback from the grassroots will be provided to government in 2015.

Grain Farmers of Ontario is asking the provincial government to abandon the proposed seed treatment regulations and support an approach that will work for the complexities of both grain farming and bee keeping. Family farmers need your commitment to agriculture now.

Grain Farmers of Ontario Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 corn, soybean and wheat farmers. The crops they grow cover 5 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $2.5 billion in farm gate receipts, result in over $9 billion in economic output and are responsible for over 40,000 jobs in the province.