Canadian Chemicals

Trying to lower input costs-while making things a little more fair Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is urging the EPA to allow equal access to Canadian Pesticides Currently Canadian growers have access to lower-priced U S pesticides through a Canadian Grower Requested Own Use Program-better known as GROU Under the program Canadian growers are allowed to purchase certain pesticides in the United States relabel those products with Canadian pesticide labels and import those products into Canada for their own use But U S growers don t have that same option Roger Johnson ND Ag Commissioner There were products out there that we costing US producers 10 dollars an acre more than the same product in Canada at a time when the margain on a farm may be well less than 10 dollars for whatever the crop was Johnson says a program similar to GROU should be available to growers on both sides of the border-until a NAFTA label is adopted Roger Johnson ND Ag Commissioner Which would allow for a label to be put on a pesticide product which would be legal for users on ether sde of the border So that would mean that if Syngenta would have a product and they are marketing it in Canada and it is cheaper in Canada then it is here and our industry wants to go up and buy it there either wholesale or retail they could do it there would be no problems because the label is good on both sides of the border Johnson says studies done in previous years show in North Dakota this issue has a 20 to 40 million dollar annual impact aganist our producers Johnson says he believes a bill on this issue will go before Congress this session