Seed Dust Working Group July 2017 CSTA Annual Meeting Update

Genesis Neonicotinoid restrictions in Ontario Concern other seed treatments could be targeted over time Raised by multiple stakeholder groups Industry, grower, academia Goal to mitigate risks or reasons for government to restrict other seed treatments Fugitive seed dust identified as key variable to manage given majority of corn and soybeans planted with a negative pressure air planter ESA previously identified and put protocols in place to benchmark and measure

Timeline Original meetings winter 2016 Initial meeting February 18th, 2017 Sub committee meeting March 7, 2018 Subsequent phone conference to discuss next steps

Seed Dust Working Group Working Group Objectives Discussed February 2017: Establish Canadian stewardship system for fugitive dust Establish agreed upon benchmarks for fugitive dust measurement and reduction Ensure third party verification to address industry and public scrutiny Strive for continuous improvement as technology evolves Utilize a multi-pronged approach to fugitive dust management

Seed Dust Working Group Working Group Objectives Discussed February 2017: Engage multi stakeholder group as stewardship initiative is developed and implemented Seed companies Seed treatment companies Farmers Equipment companies Regulatory officials

Seed Dust Working Group Industry driven process and protocols to benchmark and improve seed treatment dust-off over time –March Guelph Goal to create standardized third party testing used by seed companies that can be transparent to the public To utilize ESA derived standards - 0.75g/100,000 seeds of corn To be managed by AWSA as complementary to warehouse protocols Goal to develop positioning points on testing that can be used by industry Goal to use with government officials to advocate pro-active stewardship Agreed to have third party verify testing protocols for public scrutiny Start with corn and use as potential model for other crops ESA Standards in place for most crops except soybeans

Seed Dust Working Group Initial discussions re working with Ridgetown College using Heubach Seed company agreement to submit samples for a set cost as a trial Discussions and proposal from Art Schaafsma re using current testing protocol and also adding dust Concerns raised by manufacturers around need for third part testing Concerns raised about who should be the third party Concerns around the testing protocol as outlined

June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members Goal: To create an industry lead stewardship initiative to reinforce industry commitment and action related to dust off of seed treatments with results that can be communicated to government and the general public  

June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members   June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members Strategy: As pilot project CSTA to adopt the European dust-off standard used for corn as the benchmark for voluntary dust-off compliance in Canada (agreed by all) Use seed corn as the pilot crop and then consider extending to other crops across Canada based on further discussions within the CSTA starting with the Seed Applied Technologies Committee (agreed by all) Manage stewardship and measurement under the AWSA treatment facility program (agreed by all) Utilize the Heubach testing method and protocol as used by companies currently as accepted by the PMRA and ESA (no dust)

June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members   June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members On a voluntary basis, corn companies to submit agreed upon number of samples of different hybrids and seed sizes annually to a third party lab for testing using the Heubach method. Once results collected, data may be compared against PMRA/ESA established criteria Establish baseline industry numbers   Need for further discussion to determine number of years the pilot should run CSTA to coordinate testing with a third party provider CSTA to reach out to several universities and labs to tender for the service There are limited options Research contract and non-disclosure agreement developed by CSTA Input from seed companies, to be agreed to by the service provider Template circulated Data summaries with a comparison against the PMRA/ESA criterion To be provided to all participants without identification of company or hybrid. Companies to be contacted ASAP should sample results exceed the PMRA/ESA criterion for further research and/or investigation

June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members   June 13th Summary and Communication to Working Group Members Recommendations Questions