Environment, Technology & Research

ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY, AND RESEARCH POLICY COMMITTEE NOTES

OCPA SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING
Ontario Corn Producers’ Association
September 11, 2007

Environment, Technology and Research Committee

Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) Research Funding Update

It was 2½ years ago at the first joint corn/soybean/wheat annual general meeting, that Ryan Brown presented the details of this Research and Development initiative to be funded via 'wedge dollars' (these were transition dollars designed to move agriculture into the new world of the APF). The new program is referred to as the CORD 4 (Canada-Ontario Research and Development) program and will allocate approximately $4.5 million to the field crop sector.

A committee called the Ontario Field Crops Research Coalition (OFCRC), which includes 12 commodity groups (corn, soybeans, wheat, small grains, forages, white and coloured beans, canola, seed corn, sugarbeets, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association and Innovative Farmers of Ontario), is charged with reviewing research project proposals to be funded by the CORD 4 program. The funding levels for each commodity are based on farm gate receipts, with accommodation made to provide the smallest commodities with a minimum level of funding such that meaningful projects can be conducted. New for this round was an allocation called 'cross commodity'; in a gesture of good faith, the three largest commodities based on farm gate receipts (corn, soybeans and wheat) allocated a small percentage of their funds towards this 'cross commodity' allocation intended to encourage project collaboration within the sector. This placed OCPA's final allotment at just over $1.2 million. Once the research projects are approved by the OFCRC, they are forwarded by the secretariat to the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) for final approval.

As we reach the conclusion of the current APF, this program is also set to finish in early 2008. Research reports for all OCPA CORD funded research are due December 2007 and OCPA is on target to meet this deadline. During the life of this program, OCPA has provided an on-going update as new projects have been undertaken. In this instance, all the OCPA projects which have been funded via the CORD program have been listed for your benefit below:

Approved CORD 4 Projects
Project Title	Project Duration
Project Title	2005	2006	2007
Assessing & Comparing the Business Environment for Producer Involvement in Further Value-Added Processing in the U.S. and Ontario (K. McEwan, Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph)	$20,000	-	-
The Effect of Time of Day on Herbicide Efficacy (Dr. P. Sikkema, Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph)	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
The Effect of Cumulative Stresses on Crop Performance (Dr. P. Sikkema, Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph)	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Impact of Poncho Seed Treatment on the Performance of Corn under Stress (G. Stewart, OMAFRA, Guelph)	$5,000	-	-
Identifying and Correcting Causes of Uneven Red Clover Stands Underseeded to Winter Wheat (Dr. Bill Deen, Dept. of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph)	$20,000	$20,000	$20,000
Management of Corn Rootworm in Ontario (Dr. A. Schaafsma, Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph)	$20,000	$20,000	-
Improvement of the MERN Calibration Curve with Adjusted Soil N Test Values (J. D. Lauzon, Dept. of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph)	-	$80,225	$80,225
Delivering Value-Added Technology in Corn Directly to the Ontario Corn Farmer (Dr. E. Lee, Dept. of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph)	-	$65,000	$65,000
Improving Corn Hybrid Management in Ontario (G. Stewart, OMAFRA, Guelph)	-	$25,000	$25,000
Molecular Approaches Toward Improving Fusarium Resistance in Corn (Dr. K. P. Pauls, Dept. of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph)	-	$96,000	$96,000
Weed Control Decision Making Tools for Profit Maximization in Corn (M. Cowbrough, OMAFRA, Guelph)	-	$38,125	$38,125
Expanding Sustainable Nitrogen Fertilizer Use by Promoting and Refining New Nitrogen Recommendations for Corn (G. Stewart, OMAFRA and G. Brown, Director Business Development, Agricorp, Guelph)	-	$63,620	$63,620
Development of an In Vitro Mutagenesis/Selection System for Future Germplasm Development (Dr. L. Kott, Dept. of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph)	-	$46,250	$46,250
Weed Management Approaches and Reduced Rates in Corn, Soybeans and Wheat (Dr. P. Sikkema, Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph)	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Standardization of Sampling and Analytical Procedures for Vomitoxin Testing in Grain Corn (G. Stewart, OMAFRA, Guelph)	-	-	$12,500
Evaluation of a Flexible Weed Management Program in Roundup Ready Corn (C. Swanton, University of Guelph)	-	-	$10,062
Assessing the Impact of Fungicides on Corn Yield (C. Swanton, University of Guelph)	-	-	$8,000
Economic Importance of Ontario's Corn Sector (R. Vyn, Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph)	-	$16,850	-

One other thing that should be pointed out - the dollar amounts indicated above only includes OCPA contributions to the project. In many cases, there are additional funds from other associations and industries that support these projects.

If any members wish to gain more detail around these projects or any other research related material, feel free to contact your local or regional OCPA Director, or the OCPA office in Guelph. You can also visit our website at www.ontariocorn.org to view our most recent call for proposals.

Next APF
As many of you are aware, the federal government has been working towards designing the next APF that will be implemented when the current program expires in the spring of 2008. The OFCRC has been working hard to make government aware of the importance of research programs such as the CORD 4 program; a program which has shown its tremendous value as a result of a number of continuations. Since the future of CORD in unknown as this time, and the member groups of OFCRC feel so strongly regarding the continuation of the program, two letters attached at the end of this report are a result of OFCRC doing its part to support the renewal/continuation of the CORD program.

Grower Requested Own Use (GROU) Program
(The following update is provided by Jackie Fraser, the Executive Director for AGCare, which is a coalition that represents the environmental interests of OCPA on issues such as this)

The Grower Requested Own Use (GROU) program is up and running. The American equivalents of the following five products are now available under the GROU program:

* Basagran liquid herbicide
* Banvel II herbicide
* Roundup Weathermax with Transorb 2 Technology liquid herbicide
* Reflex liquid herbicide
* Touchdown iQ liquid herbicide

To access these products, growers must apply for an Import Certificate for the GROU program. See www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/appregis/grou/grou-how-to-apply-e.html for details on how to apply.

A maximum of 20 products with significant price discrepancies between Canada and the US will be considered for inclusion in the GROU program on an annual basis as chosen by the grower-led GROU Nomination Committee (made up of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Horticultural Council, Grain Growers of Canada, and Pulse Canada). AGCare forwarded 22 products to the nomination committee on behalf on Ontario's growers, including OCPA's nominees of Atrazine, Dual II Magnum, Frontier, and Prowl.

The nomination committee met on September 4, 2007 to consider products to nominate for next year. They will meet again to whittle the list down to 20 nominees, to forward to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) for consideration for 2008. The PMRA plans on announcing the successful candidates in January of 2008.

AGCare has written the PMRA to express concern about some of the early challenges within the new GROU program. They have committed to performing a program evaluation following an 18 month period, to determine GROU's progress in meeting its objectives. It has been stated they will re-open the old Own Use Import (OUI) program if pesticide manufacturers are not willing to cooperate with the GROU program.

For more information, contact Jackie Fraser at AGCare (519-837-1326, jfraser@agcare.org).

Clean Water Act
(The following update is provided by Jackie Fraser, the Executive Director for AGCare, which is a coalition that represents the environmental interests of OCPA on issues such as this)

Source Protection Committees (SPCs) for each of the 19 Source Protection Areas/Regions (SPA/R) throughout the province are currently being formed under the Clean Water Act. These are the groups that will be tasked with coming up with Source Protection Plans for each watershed, which will essentially "draw the lines" on the map and dictate where and how certain farm practices can occur.

Each committee will consist of one-third municipal members, one-third agricultural / industrial / commercial, and one-third other (e.g. environmental groups, members of the public). Members of an SPC would serve for 5 years and SPC meetings would occur at least once per month until the proposed terms of reference are submitted to the source protection authority (SPA).

Agricultural representatives (ag reps) for each SPC are being elected locally. In August, ag reps were elected for 7 different SPCs. Meetings for the remaining 12 SPCs will occur throughout the fall.

The Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC), made up of AGCare, the Christian Farmers' Federation of Ontario, the Ontario Farm Animal Council, and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, will be providing training for all ag reps at the end of November. OFEC will also provide technical support for ag reps throughout the process.

For more information, contact Jackie Fraser at AGCare (519-837-1326, jfraser@agcare.org).

Corn Specialist Named as 2007 T.R. Hilliard Award Winner

OAC announced June 20, 2007 that they are pleased that the recipient of the 2007 T.R. Hilliard Distinguished Agricultural Extension Award is Greg Stewart, who has served as Provincial Corn Lead for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs since 1998.

The Hilliard award was established by the OAC Alumni Foundation to recognize individuals who are making significant contributions in agricultural extension in the province of Ontario.

Described by his nominators as "a leader among extension specialists", Stewart is responsible for field-scale demonstrations and research and collects corn research from around the world to determine its applicability for Ontario producers. He collaborates with researchers, provides input on project direction and value at the farm level, and liaises with farm organizations. His outreach efforts include the Growing Ontario's Corn website (www.gocorn.net), regular articles in a number of agricultural publications, new releases and presentations. He is a popular speaker at grower meetings.

Stewart was nominated for the Hilliard award by the Board of Directors of the Ontario Corn Producers' Association and Dr. Tony Vyn, Cropping Systems Specialist, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. The nomination was supported by primary producers, farm businesses and associations, seed industry representatives, OMAFRA and crop research specialists at the University of Guelph.