Cleaning Up Farm Chemicals
Crop Life Canada

In just three days, 124,516 kilograms of unused and unwanted pesticides were turned in during the CleanFarms Obsolete Pesticide Collection Campaign, organized by CropLife Canada through a program called stewardshipfirst ®.

“We’re very happy with the results,” reports Russel Hurst, CropLife Canada Manager of Stewardship Development. “It’s a little more than we expected – a great number of obsolete pesticides taken out of the Saskatchewan farm environment.”

CropLife Canada is a non-profit trade association representing manufacturers, developers and distributors of plant science innovations, including pest control products. The stewardshipfirst program, which is rotated annually through participating provinces, protects the environment and human health from the potential release, or improper use or disposal of obsolete pesticides.

From October 23rd to 25th, 2007, 45 pre-established agricultural retail collection sites accepted all pesticides without question, including so-called “legacy” pesticides – long-banned farm chemicals which are no longer registered for use.

To keep the program free, with absolutely no personal cost or liability to farmers, CropLife received financial support from the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Saskatchewan (ACAAFS) Program.

“Our steering committee includes retailers, producers, and representatives from the Saskatchewan Ministries of Agriculture and  Environment,” says Hurst. “The leadership, guidance and cooperation are really strong, and the response we get from farmers is ‘Wow – this is a great program!’”

Funding also paid for communications materials to inform the agricultural community of the collection sites and dates, and for the transportation of the collected pesticides to an approved safe-disposal facility in Swan Hills, Alberta.

Explains Hurst, “High temperature incineration ensures no environmental or health hazards.”

CropLife says that it is important to ensure that products are properly managed from development to disposal. Judging from these results, Saskatchewan farmers and retailers feel the same way.

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