Why do farmers have to use pesticides and herbicides?
Chemicals represent an expensive cost of doing business, so we only use them when absolutely necessary. Farmers in Ontario must take a safety course on storing, handling and applying pesticides and pass an exam in order to become certified to purchase and use them. In tandem with other methods of crop protection it has helped raised the yields and quality of our fruits, vegetable and field crops, as well as the reliability of supply to consistently great heights. Theyve also helped keep retail prices low. As farmers we rely on our regulatory system to ensure that the pesticides we use are safe. The Canadian system is one of the most stringent product approval, monitoring and control systems in the world. We need to know that what pesticides we use will not harm the health of our families or of our livestock. We live right on the farm, we breathe the air and drink the water from our own wells and we rely on healthy soils to keep us in business. If we thought chemicals were dangerous, we
