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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-07-12 MinutesAgricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington Meeting Thursday, July 12, 2018 Members Present: John Cartwright Brenda Metcalf Ben Eastman Eric Bowman Tom Barrie Henry Zekveld, Ted Watson Les Caswell Wendy Partner Regrets: Don Rickard, Jennifer Knox, Richard Rekker, Guests: Lindsey Park, MPP, David Piccini, MPP, Andrew Junop and Ralph Kerr (EA's to MPP's respectively), Sheila Hall, CBOT and Charles Stevens, Wilmot Orchards Staff: Faye Langmaid, Planning Services; Brenda welcomed all to the meeting, with introductions. Adoption of Agenda 018-16 Moved by John Cartwright, seconded by Wendy Partner "That the Agenda for July 12, 2018 be adopted" Carried Approval of Minutes 018-17 Moved by Tom Barrie, seconded by Ted Watson "That the minutes of the June 14, 2018 meeting be approved" Carried Introductions: Lindsey Park provided an overview of her background in environmental studies and law and her role as Parliamentary Assistant to the Attorney General. David Piccini provided an overview of his background in foreign affairs, agricultural policy and health care and his role as Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministry of Training, Universities and Colleges. Lindsey and David thanked the group for the invite, introduced their assistants, indicated where their offices currently are, both are looking for new spaces and will forward their e-mail contact information when it is set up. They welcomed any invitations from the agricultural community to events and gatherings and would like to hear about the issues facing farmers. As part of their campaigns both Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington July 12, 2018 have visited numerous farms and been parts of agricultural round tables and look forward to continued dialogue. Priorities of the new Government are "Rebuilding Ontario - Ontario families deserve major infrastructure investments in both our biggest cities and our smallest towns." They also plan on investing in expanded broadband, increasing local infrastructure funding, and exploring highway expansion across the province. Specifically: Expand natural gas distribution to rural communities by enabling private sector participation and use the up to $100 million in savings to invest in cellular and broadband expansion. Increase the Risk Management Program (RMP) cap by $50 million annually to help farmers and other producers better manage risks outside of their control." Delegation: Charles Stevens regarding crop protection materials and the reviews that have been occurring by Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). PMRA is responsible for pesticide regulation in Canada. Created in 1995, this branch of Health Canada consolidates the resources and responsibilities for pest management regulation. Pesticides are stringently regulated in Canada to ensure they pose minimal risk to human health and the environment. Under authority of the Pest Control Products Act, Health Canada: x registers pesticides after a stringent, science -based evaluation that ensures any risks are acceptable; x re-evaluates the pesticides currently on the market on a 15 -year cycle to ensure the products meet current scientific standards; and x promotes sustainable pest management. Health Canada also promotes and verifies compliance with the Act and enforces situations of non-compliance warranting action. Our programs and initiatives look to improve the regulatory process and provide Canadians pest control products and strategies with acceptable risk and value. Health Canada is committed to providing an open, transparent and participatory process for pesticide regulation. Health Canada works with provincial, territorial and federal departments in Canada to help refine and strengthen pesticide regulation across the country. These partnerships ensure that the diverse needs of the Canadian public are addressed at all levels of government, and that the policies developed by Health Canada meet these needs. Beyond Canada, Health Canada also works closely with a number of international organizations including: United States Environmental Protection Agency, the North American Free Trade Agreement Technical Working Group, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. These close ties contribute to the development of policies and regulations. Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington July 12, 2018 Charles in his roles with the Ontario Apple Growers, Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC) — Crop Protection has been very involved in the advocacy work with PMRA about fungicides and in particular Captan and EBDC. In brief: x CHC continues to advocate on behalf of growers via the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)'s process for the re-evaluation of crop protection products, and to advocate for improvements to the policies that guide the PMRA's regulatory decisions. x CHC hosts an annual crop protection tour to show the PMRA and Health Canada's Pest Management Centre (PMC) firsthand how pesticides are used by fruit and vegetable growers. The tour is funded by CHC and is grower -led and focused. x CHC continues to advocate for the harmonization of many aspects of the pesticide regulatory system, including maximum residue limits and joint international reviews. For more information, visit our web page on Non -tariff Trade Barriers. x CHC continues to support the PMC's Minor Use Pesticide Program and pesticide risk reduction activities. Recently the PMRA re-evaluation of EBDC has recommended it be eliminated. There is major concern in the agricultural industry, in particular for crops such as apples, grapes, sugar beets, most all fruits and vegetables except potatoes for the recommendations by the re-evaluation group at PMRA. Because PMRA is under Health Canada the focus has been on pesticide application exposure, cancer risk in drinking water and dietary exposure. There criteria while health indicators do not relate to how we consume fruits and vegetables. 70% of fruits and vegetables come from outside Canada and the international market is not eliminating EBDC, EBDC has not be found in drinking water in Canada. At this point in time the PMRA process appears to be out of whack with agricultural practice. Charles has been very involved in seeking a review of how PMRA does its re- evaluations and looking for support from provincial agencies/politicians, educating new Minister of Agriculture for Ontario The Honourable Ernie Hardeman. Unfortunately we are now at a point where agriculture and how food is produced to feed the masses is not upmost in the mind of policy markets and is often not based on scientific fact but lack of knowledge/understanding and social trends and emotion. This is true not just for Fruits and Vegetables but is also seen in the feather industries and animal rearing farms. Less than 2% of Canadians farm but everybody things they know how to farm. Charles presentation evolved into a general discussion on to educate consumers. Brenda provided insight on the efforts of Farm Connections and the educational programs they are working on. One of the items stressed was that stable funding for such programs should be put in place rather than having groups spend time writing Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington July 12, 2018 grant proposals. In addition is funding is made available through incentives to reduce herbicide and pesticide use it should be province wide. Business Arising Broadband "Fact Sheet" Faye and Sheila provided an overview of the information that has been compiled from the Region's Broadband Strategy and the Business Retention and Expansion study that illustrate the issues that rural business (farmers, home occupations, retail, etc) are facing in being able to communicate effectively and efficiently because of the lack of broadband infrastructure. The new provincial government had a campaign promise of investment in rural infrastructure of 100 million. 407 Issues: Blackbird and MTO staff were invited to attend the July meeting to respond to issues identified at the May 10 meeting, they declined. Blackbird requested a noise exemption from Council at their meeting of July 3, 2018. Council approved the noise exemption contingent on Blackbird responding to the issues raised by the Agricultural Advisory Committee. Staff are awaiting a response from Blackbird and MTO. It was determined that Faye would follow-up with Jennifer Knox to determine if a resolution should be passed by the committee in August to go to the September Council meeting. Council and Committee Reports Council received another request for backyard chicken which they received for information. In future it is suggested that the reason for not acting upon the request be given. Essentially it is a risk management measure for the feather crop producers in the area. There is a possibility of avian flu from unregistered chickens. This is the reason for not allowing chickens within the urban areas of Clarington, it is to safeguard the rural feather farm neighbours from this bio -security risk. As a result of a delegation to Council regarding Agri -Tourism and Special Event Considerations for On -Farm Diversified Uses, Staff were asked to prepare a policy for the September 10th Planning and Development Committee meeting. The Staff Report will rely on the work of the AACC for the Countryside Discussion Paper (the framework for decision-making) and the input the group is currently providing on the Zone Clarington review. Durham Agriculture Advisory Committee: - DAAC Tour for September 13th at Reesor's to involve equipment dealers. Durham Region Federation of Agriculture: (Farm Connections) The summer students are working on research for the Emily 911 project and trying to have consistent implementation of the this signage across Durham. They are also working on revisions to the Ag Media Directory so if any are willing to be spokespeople of specific topics please let Brenda know. The Heritage Committee formed to led the successful Canada Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington July 12, 2018 150/150 agriculture families in Durham will be working on having the histories compiled into a coffee table book. Clarington Board of Trade — Sheila provided an update on the video they are putting together to promote agriculture and agri-business in Clarington. Farm Boy Productions has been hired to create a video on the Real Dirt on Agriculture. Filming has started and hope to have the video for the Mayor's dinner in the fall. New Business Liberty Street Bridge — Width of the new bridge is appreciated. Fire Chief — Automated Message to those with burn permits was noted and appreciated. Enfield barn fire was John Geissberger's barn. Future Agendas— Suggestions for future agendas DRPS and farm safety. John is working on invitation to the Premier. John Cartwright moved to Adjourn. Next Meeting: Thursday, August 23rd or 30th, 2018 at 7:30 pm, Max Chipman from Starseed on the Cannabis Industry in Clarington. Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington July 12, 2018