Saskatchewan, Alberta seeking pesticide’s reinstatement

The governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta are trying to get an insecticide reapproved for use in farmers’ fields.

The federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) recently altered the approved uses for lambda-cyhalothrin, a pesticide many farmers use to control grasshoppers and flea beetles.

According to the Saskatchewan government, one of the changes means the chemical can no longer be used on any crop that could end up as livestock feed. As a result, the manufacturers of the pesticide have pulled it from Western Canada.

“Due to a continued drought in some parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan, grasshoppers are again likely to be a significant concern in the 2023 growing season, and the PMRA’s decision leaves farmers with one fewer tool to address potentially destructive pests,” the government said in a media release.

“It could also mean the inability for canola producers to sell their products as livestock feed, which could impact availability for cattle and lamb producers. It could also impact total food production in a time of world food insecurity.”

Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit and Nate Horner, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation, have written to the ministers of Health Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada asking them to encourage the PMRA to reconsider its decision.

The Saskatchewan government noted that in 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed restrictions on lambda-cyhalothrin’s use.

“The PMRA made the opposite decision, which has led to confusion about what will be done about livestock feed coming in from our largest trading partner,” the government said in the release.

The provincial government’s release said the PMRA could enact an emergency reinstatement of the product’s use, which would allow farmers to deploy it in the next growing season. The government said that reapproval would need to happen immediately to give producers access to the pesticide.