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Herbicide
Working Group Update - August 2007
BACKGROUND
The herbicide Working Group (HWG) of the Poplar
Council September (PCC) strives to expand the number of approved
agricultural herbicides for use in ‘short-rotation-intensive-culture’
(SRIC) poplar crops and acts as sponsor of these requests. Founded
in 2003, its current membership consists of Lyle Alspach (Shelterbelt
Centre - Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration of Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada or AAFC), Al Bertschi (Alberta-Pacific Forest
Industries Inc.), Tim Gylander (Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd.), Florance
Niemi (Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd.), Larry White (Saskatchewan
Forest Centre) and Cees (“Case”) van Oosten (SilviConsult
Woody Crops Technology Inc. – chair of the HWG). The objective
of the HWG is two-fold: To look at the range of herbicides currently
available that are appropriate for use on poplars, but not currently
registered, and to get the appropriate herbicides registered for
use in SRIC poplar crops.
The application process is known as User Requested
Minor Use Label Expansion (URMULE) and is administered by the
Pest Management Regulatory Agency - PMRA (Agence de réglementation
de la lutte antiparasitaire - ARLA - ARLA), operated by Health
Canada.
The URMULE process considers the expansion of the
use of an already approved herbicide to a new minor use, in this
case SRIC poplar crops. This covers all species of the genus Populus
and their hybrids, including aspen. The submission needs to demonstrate
the herbicide’s efficacy (i.e. the control of weeds) and
must show tolerable or no damage to the crop plants when applied
(crop tolerance). For additional information on this process see:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pmra-arla/english/appregis/urmule-e.html
HIGHLIGHTS 2006-2007
- The HWG was successful in promoting SRIC poplar
as an agronomic crop to PMRA in Ottawa in 2004. The latest minor
crop label expansions involving these efforts list this crop
as ‘SRIC poplar’. It is not considered a forestry
use.
- In November 2004 the PCC-HWG took out a membership
in the Prairie Pesticide Minor Use Consortium (PPMUC), based
in Brooks (Alberta). This is a cost-effective way for the HWG
to get URMULE submissions prepared and submitted to the PMRA.
Membership entitles the HWG to the services of the Minor Use
Procurement Officer of the Consortium for the preparation and
submission of an URMULE.
Membership in the PPMUC was renewed for 2007-2008; however,
this time the membership fees were paid for by PCC and five
partners, each contributing $500. The partners, who are also
all PCC members, are Ainsworth Engineered Canada LP, Alberta-Pacific
Forest Industries Inc., Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd.,
Saskatchewan Forest Centre and Shelterbelt Centre - Prairie
Farm Rehabilitation Administration of AAFC.
- After completing initial trials with Goal 2XL
(oxyfluorfen PCP#24913) in 2005 at Daishowa-Marubeni International
Ltd. (funded jointly with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries
Inc. and the Western Boreal Aspen Corp.) and Saskatchewan Forest
Centre at their own expense, another series of trials was conducted
in 2006 to justify the need to increase the application rate
from currently registered uses on strawberries and onions. The
HWG was successful in obtaining full funding through AAFC in
Ottawa as a National Pest Priority Rank ‘A’. Alberta-Pacific
Forest Industries Inc. and Saskatchewan Forest Centre carried
out these trials under the supervision of the Pest Management
Centre (PMC) of AAFC. The results were compiled and the application
was made to PMRA in March 2007. A decision is not expected till
late 2007 or early 2008. This herbicide is a much needed pre-emergent.
- In 2006 the HWG received approval of the first
herbicide application we submitted. The product Lontrel 360
(clopyralid – PCP#23545) is now labelled for use on SRIC
poplar crops. For prospective users it is important to read
the special instructions on the label pertaining to its use
in order to avoid unnecessary risk of crop damage.
- In March 2007 the HWG successfully entered a
new pre- and post-emergent herbicide for SRIC poplar into the
annual priority-setting meeting of AAFC; this was an entry strongly
supported by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food. The HWG representative
at the meeting (Larry White of the Saskatchewan Forest Centre)
provided the rationale for this submission and as a result the
HWG was awarded another National Pest Priority Rank ‘A’
category for the new active ingredient ‘flumioxazin’
of the product Flumioxazin WDG herbicide (made by Valent U.S.A.
Corporation). Field trials are scheduled for 2008. This product
is registered in the US under the name SureGuard Herbicide (EPA
59639-120; made by Valent Professional Products in the US) and
is labelled for numerous tree species, including poplar and
willows.
When negotiations started with Valent Canada - Crop and Professional
Products (the ‘registrant’), on possible label
language, the HWG proposed to add willow to the label, to
which the company agreed. The URMULE application process starts
with a pre-submission consultation with PMRA, conducted through
the Pest Management Centre (PMC). This pre-submission consultation
will start in September or October of 2007. Field trials are
scheduled for the spring and summer of 2008.
- In July 2007 the HWG was notified by PMRA that
five other products had been approved and could be used, pending
the submission of the final label by the registrants to PMRA.
Please note that as of the 12th of August 2007, these labels
had not been amended and posted and are therefore not yet available
to SRIC poplar growers.
Four of these new products already have minor use labelling
for poplar in a shelterbelt setting. PMRA accepted the rationale
in the application process that these products were already
registered for shelterbelt use. The following products were
approved (pending the final label):
- Vantage Plus Max Herbicide (glyphosate – PCP#27615);
- WeatherMax with Transorb 2 Technology Liquid Herbicide (glyphosate
– PCP#27487);
- Lorox L Herbicide (linuron – PCP#16279) – for
western Canada only;
- Amitrol 240 Liquid Herbicide (amitrole – PCP#25684).
Another product also applied for was rejected for environmental
reasons, even though it is still available for poplar in shelterbelt
settings; Treflan (trifluralin – PCP#23933). The HWG
gratefully acknowledges the initiative and work of Doug Billett
of Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, who helped secure these
four registrations.
The fifth approved (pending the final label) product is an
over-the-top grass killer, which does not affect broadleaved
species, including poplar: Poast Ultra (sethoxydim –
PCP#24835). Published research reports and the fact the active
ingredient is harmless to broadleaves, enabled the Rudy Esau,
Minor Use Procurement Officer of the PPMUC, to obtain a minor
use label for SRIC poplar through a letter of rationale only.
The HWG is currently negotiating better label language with
the PMRA.
- Recently there have been some requests for information
on herbicides that can be used in SRIC willow crops. With an
increasing interest in SRIC willow biomass crops grown on farmland
to provide feedstock for heat, power, ethanol production etc.,
the need for effective herbicides will follow. Some information
on products currently registered for willows was compiled and
is available in the summer 2007 issue of the PCC Newsletter,
which is accessible to PCC members. The HWG did add willow as
an SRIC crop to the proposed draft label of the product Flumioxazin
WDG herbicide, discussed above.
Financial and time resources of the HWG are not sufficient
to address willow interests at the moment and funding assistance
and time commitments are actively being requested of the willow
community so that willow can be included in the 2008 field
trials for Flumioxazin. In order to plan ahead and allow for
this to happen, the HWG needs to find out who is interested
in supporting this effort, who the willow growers are and
what the expectations are (in terms of total hectares in Canada)
for this crop in the near future. For the registrants to be
interested in supporting the addition of willows to the various
labels, they need to know what the potential market is for
their product. If you are a willow grower and are interested
in supporting the HWG and to have herbicides registered for
future use in SRIC willow crops, please contact the HWG (click
here). The HWG needs support in time and funds to include
willow in these efforts.
Cees (‘Case’) van Oosten
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Last edit:
2007-08-23
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