CAAR participated in the second Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) Steering Committee meeting in Winnipeg, MB on January 24, 2017. This steering committee was established in late 2015 by the Canada Grains Council to develop a national policy across all commodity value chains to make recommendations on the use of various pesticides.

Some products that are approved for use in Canada are not yet registered for use in export countries, which has potential to cause trade hurdles if residues from these products show up in exported grain.

The meeting was to review and discuss the tremendous progress that the working group has made on a national MRL policy. Following insightful discussion from the steering committee, the working group resumed their development of the policy.

The steering committee also appointed a communications working group to discuss and develop recommendations for the communications strategy upon development of the MRL policy. CAAR President and CEO, Delaney Ross Burtnack, has been appointed to chair the committee, which had its first call on March 13, 2017. Discussion was focused on options for how advisories would be structured and communicated, as well as parameters and scope for consultations on the drafted policy.

CAAR will continue to update members regarding developments in the policy, and will seek member input on the draft policy when complete.

For more information on the issue of MRLs and how to best manage crop production, visit keepingitclean.ca.