Before banning or limiting the use of pesticides, the government should offer better support to farmers and reinvest in research, two niches that it has abandoned in favor of the industry, believes the Union des producteurs agricole ( UPA).
“The government has withdrawn a lot from the front line,” explains Julien Pagé, vice-president of the Montérégie section of the UPA. According to him, this absence has left the field open to the chemical fertilizer and pesticide industry to support farmers and increase the use of their products.
The UPA-Montérégie therefore wishes to be better supported by Quebec and is in turn trying to occupy this ground with avant-garde producers and “ambassadors” who serve as examples, explains Mr. Pagé.
He adds that the UPA-Montérégie has set up the ALUS program, which pays farmers to improve water and soil quality, whether by planting windbreak hedges or vegetated riparian strips that filter and limit the input of sediments and pesticides into rivers.
“We don’t have a lot of support, we ask the municipalities, but it’s difficult and no government is funding it,” laments Mr. Pagé.
The program is notably financed by private partners such as machinery dealers. “We are careful, we do not want to have Bayer [une compagnie de pesticides]because I want to have people who really care about improving our environment,” he insists.
More research
On the other hand, when the government or the cities try to restrict the use of pesticides, the UPA-Montérégie ticks.
“Our position on pesticides is to have as many tools as possible […]; and to regulate more, you have to have the necessary expertise”, explains Mr. Pagé.
The farmer cites as an example the government regulation of 2018, which limited the use of neonicotinoids, that is to say insecticides that kill bees.
Since this tightening, the presence of these pesticides in the rivers tends to decrease. On the other hand, we note an increase in chlorantraniliprole, another toxic insecticide.
“Whoever replaces the neonics, he kills the fish. So who do we want to save? said M. Pagé. The industry is there to make money and if they no longer have the right to use one product, they will use another. Is the other less harmful, we do not know, because there are no studies on him, ”he illustrates.
However, the ministry intends to tighten the use of chlorantraniliprole soon.
“Smoke show” of the cities
As for the cities that are beginning to ban glyphosate (Roundup) such as Montreal, Granby and soon Quebec, Mr. Pagé is not more impressed.
“Montreal bans Roundup on its territory with the exception of golf courses and, for me, it’s a smoke show,” he said.
Despite everything, the volume of pesticides sold continues to increase and peaked in 2021.
“But we have to see if the active ingredient is more or less harmful. You also have to see who is buying. Farmers? Golf clubs? Cities?”, asks Mr. Pagé
Mr. Pagé specifies that the “goal is not to find a culprit”, but to say that the objective is that the world does its part to improve the balance sheet.
Record sale of pesticides
According to the 2021 pesticide sales report, sales of pesticides for the urban environment represent 20% of total sales, versus 72% in the agricultural environment. Pesticides for gardening account for the largest share of pesticides used in urban areas (78%), while the maintenance of green spaces and golf courses accounts for around 12% of sales. Urban sales have doubled since 2019, largely due to the growing popularity of corn gluten meal, a biopesticide used to kill dandelions.