CropLife worries about Environment Canada ‘over-reach’

It didn’t get a lot of press, but last fall the federal government took a stand to support Canada’s agriculture industry.

In December, the United Nations held a biodiversity conference in Montreal. The participants signed an agreement, called the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework, to protect nature and reverse biodiversity loss.

Leading up to the final agreement, some countries were pushing for a 50 per cent reduction in pesticide use worldwide.

But Canada said “no.”

“To Canada’s credit, including our environment minister, standing up and saying that arbitrary use-reduction targets for pesticides is not the way to go — that (it) would impact productivity,” said Pierre Petelle, president and chief executive officer of CropLife Canada, which represents the crop protection and plant breeding industry.