Ontario Grain Farmer August 2021

ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 27 AUGUST 2021 growth, we need to ensure the Canadian regulatory environment enables innovation and investment in the crop protection market,” says Petelle. “It’s our job to make sure the regulations do not impede growers’ access to safe and necessary solutions.” Petelle also reminds farmers that, as the pipeline of innovations continues to shrink and disease, insect, and weed resistance pressures increase, everyone is responsible for ensuring the solutions we have available today can preserve their effectiveness. “Work with your agronomist to make sure you are using each product properly to maintain its effectiveness. We need to keep them working for as long as possible in an effort to manage increasing pressures on crop production,” he says. That is one of the reasons CropLife Canada has spearheaded the Manage Resistance Now campaign (manageresistancenow.ca ), offering resources to farmers and the industry to proactively manage herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide resistance. “We’re always going to need new crop protection products — for both broad-spectrum and niche products,” says Tenuta. “But our industry also needs to find a way to limit the resistance to these products as they become available. Field crop growers in Ontario haven’t really dealt with fungicide resistance yet, but the issue is developing in the U.S. and elsewhere.” He reminds farmers that managing resistance starts with education, awareness, and access to the appropriate ‘tools’ to reduce resistance development. The good news is, that despite changing production pressures and a reduction in the innovation pipeline, Canadian farmers have access to all the tools they need to succeed. l Canada’s crop protection market has seen a steady five per cent growth every year over the past decade. in regulatory restrictions on actives such as chlorpyrifos, have redistricted and eliminated some options for farmers, creating a need for new solutions. Retailers are addressing these changes through their own company consolidations and investments over the past decade to improve facilities and provide highly trained agronomic staff to help farmers looking for new solutions. “While Canada only accounts for four per cent of the global crop protection market, we’re fortunate our country is still an attractive environment from a regulatory and business development perspective,” says Petelle, pointing out Canadian farmers are accessing new technologies as quickly as our largest competitors, the U.S. and South America. While Canadian farmers have access to a solid offering of crop protection products today, many products are expected to come off-patent and enter the generic market in the near future. “Adama conducted a global survey in 2018 where we identified more than 90 actives coming off-patent in the next decade,” confirms Thiessen. These changes mean farmers will have more decisions to make when it comes to choosing where they buy their products from. The expected product changes also offer plenty of opportunities to enhance these products to meet the needs of the next generation of crop protection. MEETING FARMER NEEDS “As product availability and grower needs change, so do the roles of our crop protection suppliers,” says Petelle. “We continue to rely on companies that invest in R&D to feed the solutions pipeline with new innovations, while looking to generic companies to continue to support and provide necessary actives and products.” Albert Tenuta, field crop pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, agrees, saying he expects not only to see new crop protection products and uses become available in the coming decade, but also anticipates more awareness of the disease risks and yield losses (in dollars) associated. “Improving our ability to identify diseases will also allow growers to select more appropriate fungicides,” explains Tenuta. As research continues and the industry develops a better understanding of crop diseases, a targeted approach to the development of products and application methods could improve fungicide effectiveness. “We could see better timing, targeting the appropriate growth or pathogen stage and an improved understanding of how to get the best coverage, like applying a product directly where it is most needed — a soybean flower, wheat head, or corn silk,” says Tenuta. Increased pest and disease pressures are expected to drive additional changes in how crop protection products are applied and used in rotation. Thiessen also predicts “a bit of a renaissance” in the market as growth will be driven by new demands for biofuels mandates and plant-based proteins, and an emphasis on managing resistant weeds. “Grower solutions will be increasingly localized as farmers rely more on retailers and agronomists for information on herbicide groups and multi-year rotation strategies,” he explains. ENSURING ACCESS “As we look ahead at our ability to compete on the global market and maintain industry