(Quebec) Following the Louis Robert affair, the Legault government wishes to separate the sale of pesticides from the advisory service work offered to farmers by agronomists, in a bill tabled at the very end of the last parliamentary session before the elections.
Posted at 4:17 p.m.
“The current Agronomists Act which governs the profession of agronomist in Quebec was adopted in 1973 and has not been updated since. Faced with the observation that this framework is no longer suited to the modern practice of agronomy, the government is proposing […] to separate the sale of agricultural inputs and the advisory services offered to agricultural producers by agronomists,” said the office of Minister of Agriculture André Lamontagne in a press release.
Agronomist Louis Robert, who in 2019 denounced the interference of private companies in public research, again made headlines in 2021 by publishing a book entitled For the good of the earth, where he lifted the lid on undue pressure from the fertilizer and pesticide industry. “Companies that offer fertilizers and pesticides [ont] the seizure of part of our agriculture”, denounced Mr. Robert. He was critical of private sector agronomists, who prescribe pesticides and sell them.
In reaction to the publication of the agronomist’s book, the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, assured that “the basic questions raised by Louis Robert in recent years are at the heart of government action” and that there is “currently a change of culture at MAPAQ and in all agricultural practices in Quebec”.
Conflict of interest
In February 2020, a report by the National Assembly’s Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, Energy and Natural Resources reported that for several stakeholders, “industry-related agronomist cannot be able to advising his clients without having a potential conflict of interest, especially in cases where he receives an incentive from his employer for the sale of products”.
“According to studies, advisory services provided by unrelated advisors are more conducive to the adoption of agri-environmental practices. Those provided by linked advisers more often lead to recommendations for the use of pesticides,” summed up the parliamentarians.
However, the government’s proposal has little chance of being adopted, since there are less than two weeks of parliamentary work left before the summer break, which precedes the general elections in the fall. “Perhaps this bill could have been introduced a little earlier,” noted Liberal House Leader André Fortin.
Québec solidaire MNA Émilise Lessard-Therrien notes that this small bill of about fifteen articles responds to several concerns raised in the CAPERN report. However, she wonders “why such a small bill has taken so long to be drafted”. However, she considers that it is not impossible that it will be adopted if it achieves “consensus”.
Free sale of pesticides
The Order of Agronomists is not opposed to the bill, it is campaigning for an overhaul of the law and the separation of advisory services and the sale of pesticides and fertilizers. Its president, Martine Giguère, makes two criticisms of the bill. Minister Lamontagne, instead of allowing the Order to include this prohibition within the Code of the profession, will do so in a regulation that he will draft himself. And it won’t ban all substances, just some.
“The list of inputs remains to be defined. When we talk about inputs, we are talking about pesticides or fertilizers. We weren’t targeting certain products, we were targeting all inputs. There, with a regulation, they will target certain inputs, ”she notes in an interview with The Press. Quebec also provides exceptions to this prohibition. “The purpose is the same, so we remain satisfied,” she underlines.
She also believes that the bill should ban the free sale of pesticides. Quebec will have a better chance of reaching its target for reducing the use of pesticides by forcing farmers to obtain a prescription from an agronomist to use them.
“Currently, most pesticides can be purchased over-the-counter,” she points out. Instead, agronomists could offer growers “alternative methods” or “lower impact pesticides.”