Drone spraying pesticides on crop

The Ministry of Agriculture in Saskatchewan is proposing to revise The Pest Control Products Regulations, 2015 to permit a licence category of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), commonly known as drones, in Saskatchewan.

Background:

  • To date, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has approved five pesticides available for application using RPAS.
  • Permitting a RPAS licence category under The Pest Control Products Regulations will ensure that applicators have the required training and certification to safely apply pesticides by RPAS.

THE IMPACT: What does this mean?

The Ministry is soliciting feedback from stakeholders on the proposed changes to The Pest Control Products Regulations, 2015, as it relates to RPAS and a new applicator license category. CAAR has been invited to attend consultations discussing the proposed changes in Regina and Saskatoon this week, and provide a written submission by June 30.

ACTION: What is CAAR doing?

CAAR will attend one of the stakeholder consultations. We will also provide a submission to PMRA and would like share feedback from an ag retail perspective. If you would like to share your thoughts on this issue, please email Myrna Grahn and consider responding to the following questions by June 30:

  • What risks does your community/organization see related to the proposed changes to The Pest Control Products Regulations, 2015?
  • What benefits does your community/organization see related to the proposed changes to The Pest Control Products Regulations, 2015?
  • What type of activities would RPAS be useful for in your organization/community?

We want to hear from you:

As always, your feedback is important. If there are other things that CAAR should be doing or issues we should be aware of, please contact Myrna Grahn, Executive Director at myrna@caar.org.

If there are other individuals within your organization who should be receiving this message, please forward it to them. Contact Jordan Cieciwa at jordan@caar.org to learn how to add employees to receive alerts and other communications from CAAR.

Related articles