Pesticide Risk Reduction Programs

By Allie Gallant 

In 2003, the Canadian government instituted the Pesticide Risk Reduction Program to meet growing public demand for sustainable agriculture, reduce reliance on older chemical insecticides and minimize the environmental impact of pest management programs.

This program, similar to ones in the U.S. and Britain, tended to stress the adoption of natural and organic insecticides – this, despite widely divergent results on the relative environmental impact of organic, conventional and Integrated Pest Management (IPM, which uses a combination of both).