WHAT HAS AGCARE DONE FOR YOU LATELY?

by Jackie Fraser, AGCare, Executive Director

The Ontario Pesticide Education Program (OPEP) was created in 1986 to provide pesticide safety training to growers, vendors, and licensed exterminators. With 3 full-time and 3 part-time staff, plus approximately 25 part-time course instructors, OPEP operates out of Ridgetown College, University of Guelph. At the request of farmers, through AGCare, the Grower Pesticide Safety Course (GPSC) was first offered in 1988, becoming mandatory in 1991 under Ontario's Pesticides Act. All farmers must attend the GPSC and pass an examination, in order to purchase or use agricultural pesticides. Over 26,000 farmers are currently certified, having been trained in pesticide application and safety through the GPSC. AGCare and other farm organizations such as the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association (OFVGA) and the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC) continue to see the value in the GPSC and the importance of in-class training. This presents a challenge to OPEP, which must ensure reasonable access to the GPSC for growers throughout the province. The regular GPSC training season runs from December to April each year, travelling throughout the province. After April, there are generally five pre-scheduled courses offered in Vineland. However, there continues to be requests for off-season training from growers some distance from Vineland. Last year, 46 growers requested and received off-season training, outside the Vineland courses. There are a number of reasons for these requests - for example, the grower may be new to Canada or there may be unplanned changes in farm management - however, these requests strain the program's financial and staff resources. On average, these off-season courses cost over $40 more per grower than the cost of the regular courses. AGCare remains committed to ensuring that growers attend an in-class GPSC, at least for first time certification. However, we need to work with our partners to ensure that this policy does not bankrupt the very program we feel is so important. We can do this by helping to spread the word about the importance of this program, when, where and how growers can become certified, and ensuring continued support for the program. While there will always be situations that require off-season training, we must work together to minimize these requests to protect OPEP's viability. For more information on OPEP visit www.ridgetownc.com/OPEP/.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS ON THE NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT ACT
Ontario's Minister of Agriculture and Food, Steve Peters recently made two major announcements which will assist farmers in meeting the requirements of the Nutrient Management Act (NMA).

Amended Compliance Schedule
Large farms that generate more than 300 nutrient units were previously expected to comply with the NMA by July 1, 2005. The Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC) had told government that, without a timely and adequate funding program in place, it would be very difficult for farmers to comply by this date. The government has amended the compliance schedule for large farms as follows:
1) Submit a Nutrient Management Strategy (outlining how much nutrient material will be generated, how it will be stored, and where it will be used) by March 31, 2005.
2) Have the Nutrient Management Strategy approved by July 1, 2005.
3) Complete the Nutrient Management Plan (outlining the appropriate rate at which nutrients will be applied to land) by December 31, 2005.

While preparing a Nutrient Management Strategy under the NMA, a farmer will determine what needs' to be done to bring the farm operation into compliance. Once all strategies have been reviewed as part of the approval process, government will be able to determine the cost of compliance for all large livestock farms by July 1, 2005. This will allow government time to evaluate whether the budgeted $20 million and the associated assistance program are sufficient to meet the needs of Ontario's large livestock farms. Because the date for completing the Nutrient Management Plan has been extended by six months, farmers will have more time to complete projects required to bring their farms into compliance. For example, this will allow more time to access funding and build a new manure storage, facility. Moving the Nutrient Management Plan completion deadline date back also extends the date of compliance and enforcement. Therefore, MOE will not enforce the regulations until after December 31, 2005.

Financial Assistance
On May 18, 2004 the provincial government announced $20 million for nutrient management in the provincial budget. The first details of the Nutrient Management Financial Assistance Program (NMFAP) were outlined in the October announcement. Funding will be retroactive to May 18, 2004, when the budget was announced. The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) will administer NMFAP, as well as the new Environment Farm Plan (EFP) program, once finalized and announced. NMFAP will cover 25 - 45% of costs, depending on the project, up to a cap of $30,000. EFP will cover 30 - 50% of costs, depending on the project, also up to a $30,000 cap. The two programs (NMFAP and EFP) can be stacked to a maximum total cost share of 75%. Other non-federal or provincial funding programs (i.e., conservation authority or local stewardship programs) can top funding up to 100% if available. In-kind contributions will be accepted in both funding programs. Hardship cases will be looked at on a case-by-case situation. A series of OSCIA information sessions will be held throughout November to outline the program details. See www.ontariosoilcrop.org/Nutrient_Mgmt_Financial_Assistance_ Program/Information_Sessions_English.pdf for more details.

Other Issues
Phasing in of other livestock operations and the field crop and horticulture sector will be dealt with between now and May 2005 by the Provincial Nutrient Management Advisory Committee (PNMAC), which is made up of farmers, environmental groups, municipal representatives and others. AGCare Chair Greg Hannam and Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers' Association (OFVGA) representative Charles Stevens are part of this advisory committee. OFEC has concerns with some of the proposed standards and is pleased to see the government has established an expert technical committee to ensure that standards within the regulations are needed, practical and affordable. One of the cornerstones of NMA was the ability to supersede municipal bylaws through consistent, provincial standards. As we plan and invest in the new requirements, we definitely require the regulations under the NMA to supersede municipal bylaws.

WHO IS OFEC?
The Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition is made up of AGCare, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO), the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC), and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). It was formed in 1991 to create Our Farm Environmental Agenda, which then led to the creation of the Environmental Farm Plan. OFEC currently has four working groups, Climate Change, Environmental Farm Plan, Nutrient Management, and Water Quality, which are made up of farmers, farm organization staff, and government staff. OFEC decisions are made by a Steering Committee made up of the chairs of each of the four coalition organizations, chaired by Dr. John Fitzgibbon of the University of Guelph.

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