ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY, AND RESEARCH POLICY COMMITTEE NOTES

OCPA SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING
Ontario Corn Producers’ Association
September 9, 2008

Environment, Technology and Research Committee

Growing Forward – the next Agricultural Policy Framework (APF)
As many of you are aware, the federal government has been working towards designing the next APF (termed Growing Forward) as the previous APF expired in the spring of 2008. The federal and provincial governments agreed to a delayed start to Growing Forward in order to allow enough time to complete federal-provincial negotiations and design the new suite of programs. In the interim, the governments have provided transitional funding to allow some APF programs to continue. However, we learned in the spring of 2008 that the CORD IV program is not considered a ‘core’ APF program and is not eligible for transition funding in 2008.

Through the Ontario Field Crop Research Coalition, we have continued to work hard to make the government aware of the importance of research programs such as the CORD IV program. Over the past few months this has been communicated through several face to face meetings and letters. Efforts are continuing to stress the importance of providing funds to research programs that allow producer groups to play a significant role in determining projects to fund.

It is our understanding that negotiations between the federal and provincial government are nearing completion and the suite of programs will be announced in the near future. OCPA has been invited to a meeting on September 15, 2008 to discuss Ontario’s proposed suite of non-Business Risk Management (BRM) programs under Growing Forward. Programs that are provided through Growing Forward will be important sources of support for research and innovation resources and we are cautiously optimistic that a well funded suite of programs will be provided.

Ontario Research & Development Program (ORDP)
In January 2008, the provincial government announced $2.5 million in funding toward a new Ontario Research & Development Program (ORDP). The program is now up and running and is being delivered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council in much the same way as the CORD IV program. This program is intended to partially offset the gap created due to the CORD IV program not being renewed for 2008. The funding will be split between the field crops, horticulture and livestock sector. There is approximately $185,000 available for corn related research through this program.

PESTICIDE PRICING AND THE GROU (GROWER REQUESTED OWN USE) PROGRAM
The cost of inputs farmers must purchase to grow Ontario’s high quality corn, soybean, and wheat crops continue to rise. The University of Guelph, Ridgetown campus conducts regular surveys of farm input price differences between Ontario and nearby US states. The most recent survey, conducted in June 2008, shows the cost of common crop protection products averaged 59 percent higher in Ontario compared to the nearby US. This gap is of real concern to Ontario farmers. As a result, we have been working with the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to allow freer movement of key crop protection products between Canada and the US, in an effort to increase price discipline and promote competitive pricing.

A year ago, the PMRA launched the Grower Requested Own Use (GROU) program as a replacement for the Own Use Import Program. This new program allows growers to import the US version of Canadian-registered crop protection products for their own use, should they be available in the US at a lower price than in Canada. There are currently twelve products on the GROU list, (see chart below) and we are urging the PMRA to expand the list for next year’s growing season. A list of products will be submitted by AGCare, on behalf of grower groups, to the PMRA. It is our position that Ontario farmers should have access to agricultural inputs at competitive prices compared to our neighbours to the south. The GROU program will help, as long as enough products are available for import. The federal government has promised to work with the OCPA to increase price discipline of crop protection products – we need them to live up to this commitment and make more products available for import.

Growers wishing to access these products must apply for a GROU program Import Certificate. For details on how to apply to import products, go to: http://www.pmraarla.gc.ca/english/appregis/grou/grou_imp-e.html.

Under the GROU program, products with significant price discrepancies between Canada and the US will be considered for inclusion on an annual basis. Those deemed eligible will be chosen by the grower-led GROU Nomination Committee, including representation from the AGCare, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Horticultural Council, Grain Growers of Canada, and Pulse Canada.

OCPA has been working with other farm organizations through AGCare and forwarded 22 products to the nomination committee on behalf of Ontario growers in August 2007. To date, only half of those products (listed above) are eligible for import under this program. AGCare has met with the PMRA to express concern about some of the GROU program’s early challenges. The PMRA has committed to performing a program evaluation, to determine GROU's progress in meeting its objectives. The PMRA has stated that it will re-open the old Own Use Import (OUI) program if pesticide manufacturers are not willing to co-operate with the GROU program.

For more information, contact Lillian Schaer at AGCare (519-837-1326, lschaer@ agcare.org), or Crosby Devitt at OCPA (519-767-1919, cdevitt@ontariocorn.org).

OCPA Supported Research Projects
As a result of the CORD IV program coming to an end, many OCPA supported research projects came to completion over the past year. Several projects were renewed in the Spring of 2008 and are currently underway. In June 2008, a call for research proposals was issued to researchers asking for new research proposals and ideas that will add value to Ontario corn producers. OCPA has received a number of proposals that are currently under review by the board. We anticipate finalizing new commitments and projects this fall.

AGCare Update
Source Water Protection:
Draft regulations for the Clean Water Act were posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) for comments and had a submission date for comments in late July. The Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC) made a submission indicating that the regulations could not be endorsed due to a lack of detail provided at the time of the posing. Source Water Protection committees are finalizing their Terms of Reference documents. Training for the Agriculture Reps on the Source Water Protection committees is scheduled for December 3rd and 4th, 2008.

Cosmetic Use Pesticide Ban:
AGCare’s Chair, Richard Blyleven, and 1st Vice Chair, Paul Wettlaufer, made a presentation to the Standing Committee on Bill 64 (Cosmetic Use Pesticide Ban) on June 9th. The Bill then went to third reading and passed. No significant changes were made to the Bill.

The ban on cosmetic use will come into effect May 2009.

AGCare in the News:
Lilian Schaer, Executive Director of AGCare, has been writing various letters to the editor and open editorial pieces for media outlets across the province. The focus of the articles has been messages surrounding the price of food, the clean water act and the cosmetic use pesticide ban, among other things. To date, she has been successful in placing these pieces in newspapers including the Guelph Mercury, the Owen Sound Sun Times and the Waterloo Region Record.