Fungicide tools are at risk due to regulatory pressures. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is in need of real numbers and statistics regarding the use of fungicide application on-farm to help decide what exposure times are for various activities. Each activity may lead to worker exposure to any pesticide that has been applied to the crop. These anonymous surveys will be aggregated for the Canadian Horticultural Council - Crop Protection Advisory Committee submission to PMRA. 

The exposure often depends on the time a worker is exposed, such as average number of hours a day and days in a season. Some activities occur before any pesticide is sprayed such as tying and pruning grapes, so these should be ignored. Scouting a crop may be an hour twice a week on a farm all season. Please give a number or a zero if that activity does not occur on your farm.   

Complete the survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/growerfungicidesurvey  or print and mail to the attention of Craig Hunter 105-355 Elmira Road North Guelph, ON N1K1S5  

Please complete this survey for each crop that you grow.

1. Please indicate the specific crop to which this survey applies on your farm. For additional crops, please fill out another survey.

2. Please indicate the number of hours per week and the number of weeks per 
season workers spend on each activity on your farm for the indicated crop.

                                                 Per Week                Number of weeks per season

a. Pruning                
b. Tying                
c. Thinning                
d. Hand weeding                        
e. Moving irrigation pipes        
f. Scouting                
g. Hand harvest            
h. Mowing, cultivating            
i. (Other- name)            

In addition, please answer the following:                (circle one)

3. Do you have a Grower Pesticide Safety Certificate?        YES    NO

4. Do you have an On-Farm Safety Program?            YES    NO

5. Do you ensure that workers follow the re-entry intervals and wear the proper personal protective gear such as long pants and gloves?         YES    NO

6. Please list the current fungicides in use on your farm for the selected crop:

7. How many total acres may be affected by proposed changes to fungicide registration for the indicated crop?

8. Why do you need to be able to use this particular product?

9. Are there any effective fungicide replacements for the selected crop available?   YES    NO   (If you answer yes, specify which replacements are available) 
  
10. How many jobs are at stake on your farm if you can no longer grow the selected crop profitably?

11. What is your estimated loss of production (in Canadian dollars) if you can no longer grow the selected crop profitably?

Note: Please consider these points when writing to your MP or MPP about any pesticide issue. Remember that politicians assess the impact of change in terms of effect on the local and national economy, employment, trade and may not have any idea about the value of the use of pesticides.