Matador, Voliam insecticides back in ‘limited’ release

Syngenta Canada no longer plans to keep its lambda-cyhalothrin insecticide products off the market in Western Canada this year — but it’s planning to have a smaller supply.

The crop chem and seed company announced Friday it will have a “limited amount” of its lambda-cy-based products Matador 120EC and Voliam Xpress available in the West in time for the 2023 growing season, but “with a focus on horticulture and pulse crops.”

The products will also still be available in Eastern Canada, with “a focus on horticulture crops.”

The company has issued revised labels for those products effective Saturday (April 29), in line with new rules from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA).

PMRA’s re-evaluation decision for lambda-cyhalothrin — published April 29, 2021, to take effect 24 months from that date — requires that crops treated with the chemical must not be fed to, or grazed by, livestock in Canada — and that includes any harvested grain, screenings, hay, forage, silage, byproducts or aftermath.

Thus, on top of its other label-approved uses, the new Matador label provides for the product’s use in crops such as wheat, oats, barley, canola, corn (field, sweet and popping), soybeans, alfalfa, timothy, apples, carrots, potatoes, beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils and fava beans — but it specifically prohibits each of those crops from then being fed to livestock.

The new Voliam Express label, among other approved uses, also still allows for the product’s use in crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans, corn, canola, flax and mustard — but also specifically prohibits each of those crops’ subsequent use as feed.

Duane Johnson, head of sales for Syngenta Canada, said the company’s focus on pulse and hort crops for lambda-cy in Western Canada this year is based on available statistics and discussions with industry associations, which suggest the “majority” of horticulture and pulse crops go to human consumption.

However, “it’s important to note that screenings of pulse crops that were treated with lambda-cyhalothrin cannot be used as feed,” Anna Shulkin, head of crop protection regulatory and stewardship matters for Syngenta Canada, said in that company’s release Friday. “We have been sure to communicate the label restrictions and will continue to do so.”

Syngenta, Johnson said, wants “to ensure we are supporting as many growers as possible during the upcoming growing season in protecting their crops from forecasted pest pressure while being compliant with the label’s feed restrictions.”

Growers should review the new labels and are “encouraged to consult with commodity associations” prior to using lambda-cy products, Syngenta said.

‘Use responsibly’

Syngenta’s move is a step back from the decision it announced last fall to not sell any lambda-cy products at all in Western Canada for the 2023 season. A company representative said last November it had made that decision to “avoid any confusion and to support 2023 business planning with our customers.”

Adama Canada, which also markets lambda-cy under the names Silencer and Zivata, undertook a similar recall to update its product labels. Adama had said in November it wasn’t sure it would have those products available in Western Canada for 2023.

But Adama last month announced it would bring back those products, with revised labels to meet the new PMRA requirements. The company said in March it has “confidence in our retail partners to provide good advice to growers and we trust growers themselves to use the product responsibly and within permitted guidelines.”

Shulkin noted Friday that Syngenta’s September 2021 submission to PMRA, seeking reinstatement of “as many of the livestock grain feed uses as possible” for its lambda-cy products, is still under review at that agency.

Syngenta, she said, “will continue to support this submission until completed.”

PMRA’s 2021 re-evaluation decision also cancels lambda-cy products’ use on bulb vegetables, lettuce and condiment mustard, as well as any oilseeds other than flax, canola, rapeseed and oilseed mustard.

‘Unmanageable’

PMRA’s decision has seen crop commodity groups scramble to advise growers on alternative pest controls or other chemistries wherever they exist, but also warn that the decision will leave other growers in a tight spot this season.

SaskBarley, for one, has said the required label change “results in an unmanageable risk mitigation option as many crops are grown for both food and feed, with no segregation by food or feed in our bulk grain handling system.”

Grain Farmers of Ontario also noted there “currently is no process in place to divert harvested crops from livestock feed end-users,” meaning any lambda-cy applications on edible beans, grains and oilseeds “may be considered an off-label use.”

The Manitoba Crop Alliance had noted that for sunflower growers in that province, Matador was until now the lone insecticide control for lygus bug, leaving “no current chemical options.”

The group and the provincial ag department said they would work with industry to see if an emergency use registration would be possible for the 2023 growing season. Seeking a full label expansion rather than an emergency use for any product not now registered for use on sunflowers would be an “extensive” process, the MCA said.

The provincial agriculture ministers from Saskatchewan and Alberta in February wrote to their federal health and agriculture counterparts, urging them to encourage the PMRA to reconsider.

“It is possible for the PMRA to enact an emergency reinstatement of the product’s use to ensure our farmers can use it for the coming growing season and give it time to make a more informed decision, but we would need that immediately,” David Marit and Nate Horner said in a statement at the time. — Glacier FarmMedia Network