Several hundred Ontario seed dealers might quit the business when the province’s new regulations curtailing the sale of neonicotinoid-coated seeds become law as dealers would have to hire one to three full-time people to keep up with all of the extra red tape, says Stephen Denys, vice-president of sales and marketing with Pride Seeds.
The new regulation will really hurt farmers who also sell seeds as a side business as they don’t earn enough money to justify the extra paperwork, Denys said.
And while there is some talk of farmers buying seeds from Quebec or the United States, Denys says that would be illegal. “It doesn’t matter where you buy your seed. As soon as it’s in the province, it falls under the regulation,” he said.
