b'Greg Bartley is director of crop protection and crop Nevin Rosaasen is sustainability and governmentLindsay Noad serves as director general of quality for Pulse Canada relations lead for the Alberta Pulse Growers transformation for the PMRAThe watershed study is spearheaded by Team Alberta Crops,BASF and Corteva Agriscience.a working collaboration between eight of Albertas crop groups:Its at the tail end of the second year of its three-year running Alberta Barley, Alberta Beekeepers Commission, Albertatime, and Rosaasen is hoping to either extend it or have the PMRA Canola, APG, Alberta-British Columbia Seed Growers, Albertapick it up after the three years are complete. The project is looking Sugar Beet Growers, Alberta Wheat Commission and the Potatoat specifically Albertas agricultural wetlands and looking for Growers of Alberta. traces of pesticide runoff to help inform the PMRA transformation The project also has the support of Results Driven Agricultureprocess, including its review of the Pest Control Products Act. Research, Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Bayer, Syngenta, Need for Real-World DataAccording to Greg Bartley, director of crop protection and crop quality for Pulse Canada, the study will provide the PMRA with valuable data far superior to the modelled estimates often used to determine pesticide risk. Better real-world data will help PMRA to carry out risk assessments that result in more realistic exposure scenarios. In the past, we have seen the review of certain active ingredients or pesticides where the PMRA has relied on model data. Any time you rely on model data, the estimated exposure scenarios are ultra conservative, Bartley says. The challenge when you have a conservative estimate is you really over-estimate risk level, and decisions are based on a risk level that is actually a lot higher than whatever pesticide levels are potentially present in the environment. This could conceivably result in the cancellation of a product that growers rely on. If regulators are able to use real-world data, it offers them a realistic picture of how pesticides are being used. This will help PMRA refine their risk assessments and decide whether the risk posed by a certain product is acceptable and whether to maintain its registrationsomething the PMRA itself says is a long time coming.WheatDurumBarleyOatsPeasFlax As weve heard from many of our stakeholders, theres ScaleTreatingBlendingBagging a feeling out there that PMRA needs to do a better job of communicating the decisions that were making. People arent Contact: Carl Huvenaars questioning the decisions necessarily, but rather they are Phone: 403-654-5094 wondering what data and information has gone into PMRA E-mail: [email protected] making a review or re-evaluation decision, says Lindsay Noad, Box 114Hays, AlbertaT0K 1B0 director general of transformation for the PMRA. 34seed.ab.ca'