Reducing Pesticide Use by 50% in the Province of Ontario: Challenges and Progress

Abstract

The Province of Ontario, in central Canada, has the largest agriculture industry of any province in the nation. Approximately, one-half of the class 1 agricultural land for Canada lies within its boundaries. In 1986, Ontario farmers sold food and other agricultural products worth 5.5 billion dollars. About 2 billion dollars of this production was exported, principally to the United States (O.M.A.F. 1988). A wide diversity of agricultural commodities are produced, from tobacco and peanuts in the south, to fruit and grapes in the Niagara Peninsula, to vegetables and pasture lands throughout the province.