IN-crop herbicide, pesticide and fungicide chemicals maximum residue levels (MRLs) in grain products will become increasingly important in determining which export markets remain open to WA grain growers.
That was the consensus of a panel discussion on chemicals in agriculture at WAFarmers' Trending Ag 2019 conference last week.
But growers complying with Australian MRLs will not necessarily ensure WA grain products were accepted on export markets, particularly into Europe, Japan and South Korea, panel members pointed out.
The panel comprised Grain Producers Australia (GPA) chairman Andrew Weidemann, Crop Protection Australia director Dr Rohan Rainbow, CropLife Australia president and Australasia territory head for chemical producer Syngenta Australasia Paul Luxton and Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) chemical regulation manager Gordon Cumming.
Complying with changing target market MRLs would become increasingly important, but also increasingly "problematic", for WA growers, they said.
A current example was the imidazolinone (IMI) herbicide residues in Spartacus and Scope barley exports to Japan, Mr Weidemann said.
"Normal, registered use of product applications of IMI herbicides in crop will mean we are outside Japan's MRLs," he told growers.
"The GPA is working on this and it's a situation we hope to resolve quickly, but our version of quickly is different to the Japanese version.
"It could take two years," he said.
Also, a lack of agreed MRLs in some markets for new herbicides and fungicides, particularly in barley, means WA farmers may be "operating outside the regulatory process" for an intended market, Mr Weidemann said.
It therefore was "paramount" for GPA to maintain good relationships with all the major chemical manufacturers because negotiating acceptable MRLs for export markets required submitting technical data supplied by the original chemical manufacturer, he said.
Apart from negotiating MRLs for particular chemicals and grain products, the other problem for the industry was "maintaining the integrity" of chemical products while complying with tightening residue requirements for different markets, the panel agreed.
Mr Weidemann said the next big issue for WA export barley was the reregistration of glyphosate for use on barley crops with the current permit from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) expiring on July 31.
"We (GPA) will be looking at results of trials coming out of Nufarm and the GRDC in the very short term and then we will be out talking to grower groups," he said.
"We need to be very mindful glyphosate is the number one used chemical in Australia.
"There's been an enormous amount of speculation in the media surrounding use of glyphosate, but I think as an industry, we need to be very careful about the particular way we manage this process of registration of this product going forward.
"This is really the precursor to a number of other fungicide and herbicide products (facing) similar issues.
"If we go down the pathway of segregations and other things in the market place, we are creating an enormous rod for our own back."
The pesticide methiocarb, insecticide dimethoate and zinc phosphide for mouse baits were other existing chemical approvals the GPA was working to maintain, he said.
Dr Rainbow said national residue surveys conducted for GPA provided important data to support chemical registration applications and submissions to governments.
Australia was recognised as having a very robust science-based chemical registration system through the APVMA and a very robust food safety regime, he and Mr Luxton said.
"These programs underpin market confidence in Australian products and the national residue survey is part of that equation," Dr Rainbow said.
"But we don't have a perfect report card."
Dr Rainbow said the latest 2016-17 survey result showed WA grain growers "have some residue issues" around imidacloprid in canola, lupins and field pea crops.
Also paraquat in barley, difenoconazole in canola and flutriafol in oats, he said.
"Any media reporting of inappropriate usage can cause us problems in overseas markets, particularly in European markets, and can lead to product being pulled from shelves," Dr Rainbow said.
Europe now has stringent import requirements with herbicides atrazine, paraquat, simazine and trifluralin no longer in use there which caused major problems for Australian exporters, he said.
Traditional Asian markets like South Korea and China are also now establishing their own more robust comprehensive regulatory criteria for grains imports, but were well behind the European regimes in technology, Dr Rainbow said.
"So if we want to export to Europe we will have to use the very latest test type technology to ensure we meet European compliance, but if we want to export into Asia we are going to have to use the old test-type products.
"So as a producer, where does that leave us?
"I think that's a real challenge for the industry," he said.
Mr Luxton urged the industry to "look after" the chemical technology already in use.
It was very expensive to bring innovation to the marketplace, with new products taking on average 13 years to "come through the pipeline" and costs of around $280 million to bring a new product to market, he pointed out.
This timeframe and cost level made meeting rapidly changing regulations a "major challenge" for chemical producers, he said.
Mr Luxton said the community was "putting pressure" on regulators and sustainability had become "one of the very big issues" for the agricultural community.
"If we don't, some of the chemical tools we have to protect our crops will start to be removed," he said.
