ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 15 MARKET DEVELOPMENT continued on page 16 it as a reproductive toxicant. It appears by name in the French decree, applied to soybeans. Under the omnibus criteria as currently drafted, it would meet the threshold for a zero MRL on imports. That does not mean the EU will act on it, but the mechanism is criteria-based, not substance-specific. It defines a ruleset, and any substance that meets the criteria falls within scope. Glufosinate is the active ingredient in the LibertyLink herbicide tolerance system, used in corn and soybeans bred to tolerate over-the-top broadcast application. It is a Group 10 herbicide, a mode of action that has become increasingly important as glyphosate-resistant waterhemp spreads across southwestern Ontario. “You just don’t want to lose tools,” said Mike Cowbrough, weed specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness. “Especially when the next active ingredient is probably another five or six years away.” Cowbrough noted that alternatives, including 2,4-D and dicamba, remain available and effective against waterhemp, and that glufosinate’s current market penetration in Ontario has not yet reached critical mass. But he was direct about the market access implications of a zero MRL. “If it’s zero, you almost have to just ban the use outright if you want to have no risk of missing market access,” he said. Health Canada’s Pesticides Regulatory Directorate (PRD) has an active special review underway on glufosinate, adding domestic uncertainty to the trade pressure already building from Europe. At the EU level, the omnibus, as proposed, would embed the reciprocity approach in European law. A compromise text from the Council of the EU has already broadened the original proposal to include substances banned for groundwater risk or risk to pollinators. The European Parliament is expected to go further. “What might be a more limited list of active ingredients today could expand dramatically depending on the final legislative process,” said Emilie Bergeron, vice-president of CropLife Canada, who was in Geneva and Brussels in mid-July to meet with third-country delegations and EU officials on the file. CropLife Europe, which represents the crop protection industry before EU institutions, has raised concerns about the direction of the proposal. “Where existing assessments have not identified a consumer safety concern, any additional import restrictions should be carefully justified, proportionate, “We fear a tightening of protectionist rules at the borders of the European Union and France, under the guise of protecting consumer health. - Véronique Le Bail, secretary general of the French Chamber of Fruit and Vegetable Importers
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