Ontario, Quebec Beekeepers Want a Ban on Neonicotinoid Pesticides

Jul 03, 2013

Ontario, Quebec Beekeepers Want a Ban on Neonicotinoid Pesticides

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Beekeepers in Ontario and Quebec are calling for a ban on neonicotinoids sprayed on field crops.

The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association (OBA) and the Fédération des apiculteurs du Québec have joined together to ask their agriculture and environment ministries to consider a ban on neonictinoids. This spring the European Union put a two year moratorium on the use of certain neonicotinoid pesticides.

The demand was prompted by what the beekeepers claim as heavy losses of bee colonies this spring. “Our industry cannot sustain these losses. Reduced numbers of pollinators also threaten the viability of our local fruit and vegetable supply,” said Dan Davidson, President of the Ontario Beekeepers Association.

A 2012 Health Canada report conducted by the Federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency suggests a correlation between corn seeds planted with insecticides clothianidin and or thiamethosam to be a contributor to bee mortalities.

The topic of pesticides is expected to be raised at a meeting between Ontario and Quebec’s Ministers of Agriculture in Halifax July 17 to 19.

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.