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Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Pesticide Registration

Minor Use Registration

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Background

What is a “Minor Use” Registration?

A “minor use” describes a pesticide registration for which the anticipated volume of sales is not high enough for a manufacturer to justify the costs to register and sell the product in Canada.

The projected sales of the pesticide are low, but not necessarily the size of the crop. A minor use may be registered on a major crop because the use may be needed only occasionally or is limited to a small percentage of the total area of the crop. Horticulture crops including fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals generally require minor use registrations in order to have access to new pesticides.

Many of these “minor use” products are regarded as essential to cost-effective pest control and the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and other sectors.

How can I get pesticide registrations for small or minor crops and uses?

There are 2 programs which allow growers and others to apply to register minor uses. Expect minor use registrations to take 2-3 years from initiation to registration.

The program that is used most often is URMULE, “User Requested Minor Use Label Expansion”. See the following links at the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) for more details:

The second program, and one not as commonly used, is URMUR, “User Requested Minor Use Registration”. See the following links at PMRA for more details:

What information is required for URMULE registrations? ]

Proposals that meet these criteria are evaluated under the URMULE program:

  • The proposal must be supported by a grower/user group.
  • The active ingredients and the end use product must be registered in Canada.
  • The registrant must be willing to add the new use to the end use label.
  • There must be sufficient information to assess the safety, merit and value of the proposed new use.
  • The proposed acreage and volume of use must be identified.

An application form is required to accompany an URMULE proposal:

The sponsor of an URMULE (a person who ‘leads’ the project on behalf of the growers) can be from a grower association, the provincial government, or Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). Sponsors may also be private consultants. Many URMULE projects are submitted directly from the provinces to PMRA, and any outstanding research is funded and carried out by growers and local industry specialists and government.

Data required to support URMULE proposals includes residue and crop tolerance for the appropriate crops, and efficacy for the target pests. Data can be generated in Canada or in comparable growing areas in other countries. In addition to research papers, useful information includes descriptions of crop production, pest biology and impact, and current pest management practices in Canada and elsewhere.

What information is required for URMUR registrations?

Proposals that meet these criteria are evaluated under the URMUR program:

  • The proposal must be supported by a grower/user group.
  • The pesticide’s active ingredient must be registered in an OECD country but not registered in Canada.
  • The pesticide must be relatively new, ie. be registered for <5 years in an OECD country. Foreign reviews can be used.
  • The registrant submits URMUR applications to PMRA, and serves as the liaison point between the PMRA and the grower/user group.
  • There must be sufficient information to assess the safety, merit and value of the proposed new use.
  • The proposed area and volume of use must be identified.

For more information or to discuss your proposal, please contact the office of the BC Minor Use Pesticide Coordinator at British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands in Abbotsford, phone 604-556-3001.

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Steps an URMULE will go through

After an URMULE (User Requested Minor Use Label Expansions) package is completed by the sponsor and sent to PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency) by the Provincial Minor Use Coordinator, it goes through a series of steps at PMRA.

  • The submitted package is screened and PMRA decides if it requires more data to continue the review (package given a D.3.1. number, and a DACO or request for data is issued).
  • The sponsor and minor use coordinators receive the DACO, and decide how best to address the requests by PMRA. Data can be found, or generated, or it can be argued that the request should be dropped by PMRA (data mining, trials, or rationale for waiver request).
  • PMRA’s requests are addressed by the sponsor, either by trials, or other, and submitted to PMRA as a single additional package.
  • PMRA screens the information and decides if it is adequate.
  • Once PMRA has a complete package (receives a D.3.2 number) the information is reviewed by the 5 different divisions at PMRA and decisions are made regarding acceptability of the proposed new use.
  • If the new use is acceptable, approval of the registration is granted.
  • PMRA and the chemical company agree on a new label (often with input from grower groups or provinces).
  • Notification and the new label for the new registration is sent out from the PMRA to the sponsor and the provincial minor use coordinators, and then growers can use the product.

This whole process is expected to take 2-3 years; sometimes more, sometimes less….

“Minor Use Committees” in British Columbia

Minor use registration is an important program for BC growers to use for accessing new pesticides. Horticulture crops make up the majority of agricultural crops in BC. Several commodity groups have been formed to work together to pursue minor use registrations, and to create and update pest priority lists. These “Minor Use Committees” have been successful in getting new products registered for use, and their impact continues to be significant.

Committees have been formed for potatoes, berries, ornamentals, greenhouse vegetables, tree fruit, grapes, ginseng, and field vegetables. Most groups meet approximately twice per year and include growers, grower association reps, provincial and federal government reps, crop consultants and specialists, registrants, agro-chemical retailers, and food processors.

For more information or to find out how to get your pest problem addressed, please contact the office of the BC Minor Use Pesticide Coordinator at British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands in Abbotsford, phone 604-556-3001.

British Columbia “Crop Profile” Project

Crop Profiles have been developed by the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands for many of the significant crops grown in BC. These documents contain crop production and pest management information. An important use of these documents is to support registration packages.

There are 32 Crop Profiles completed (2003-2006):

Apple
Asparagus
Beet
Blueberry
Broccoli
Brussels Sprout
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Cherry
Cranberry		 Cucumber (field)
Ginseng
Grape
Green Onion
Hazelnut
Lettuce (field)
Lettuce (greenhouse)
Onion (bulb)
Peach / Nectarine
Pear
Potato		 Plum/Prunes
Radish
Raspberry
Snap bean
Spinach
Strawberry
Summer squash
Sweet corn
Tomato (greenhouse)
Turnip / Rutabaga

For more information on the BC Crop Profile Project contact the office of the BC Minor Use Pesticide Coordinator at British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands in Abbotsford, phone 604-556-3001.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s New Pest Management Center ]

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) opened the Pest Management Center in Ottawa in 2002/03. The Pest Management Center is responsible for pursuing registration of minor use proposals identified as top priorities by the provinces. In March of each year, provinces and other stakeholders meet to decide which minor use projects AAFC will work on. AAFC will prepare the submission, and generate requested data for PMRA. For more information on this program and the projects being worked on see:

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Research - Minor Use and Risk Reduction:
AAFC has research underway in the area of pest management and minor use. AAFC is involved in the development of ‘reduced risk’ and ‘bio-pesticide’ alternatives, and is always looking for new ideas and novel products for pest control. For more information on this program go to:

As part of the risk reduction initiative, AAFC is developing National Crop Profiles, which include information about crop production and pest management. British Columbia is involved in this project, as it is important that BC’s crop issues are appropriately represented in these nationally based documents. See this link for updates on the progress of this project:

AAFC has initiated research in pesticide risk reduction, which includes biologically based pest control products. See this website for a list of projects:

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Minor Use Priority Lists

Priority Lists are documents that identify crop pests and possible solutions (pesticides and other control tools). A list is developed for crops in each province by provincial government staff, grower groups, consultants, and others. Each year the provinces (usually through the Minor Use Committees) review the priority lists and add new needs or remove those that are being taken care of through new registrations and research. All provincial lists are merged together into one large list by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in January-February of each year, to create a National Priority List.

The National Priority List serves many purposes, including aiding grower groups in deciding where to focus their research dollars, showing researchers where there are needs for pest management tools, and for notifying chemical companies (registrants) so they may consider how their products might fit to solve pest problems for minor crops.

The National Priority List is the main tool used at AAFC’s National Priority Setting Workshop in late March of each year in Ottawa, where attendees decide which priority needs will be worked on by AAFC in the upcoming year. This format was initiated in 2003.

Attendees include provincial minor use coordinators, crop specialists and scientists, growers, grower organizations, consultants, chemical company representatives, PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency), AAFC, IR-4 (USA minor use program), and other interested parties.

Approximately 10 top (‘A’) priorities are determined for each of weeds, insects, and diseases each year.

For more information or to discuss how to get the pest management needs of your crop onto the National Priority List, contact the office of the Minor Use Coordinator at British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, phone 604-556-3028.

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Status of Active URMULE Projects

A number of URMULEs are in some stage of development after being submitted to the PMRA. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s Minor Use Coordinator maintains a comprehensive list of active URMULE projects submitted by provinces and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Alternatively, the British Columbia Minor Use Pesticide Coordinator’s office in Abbotsford keeps a record of activities for each B.C. URMULE submission (phone 604 556 3001).

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Recent Minor Use Registrations

Link to the New Registrations page for a list of approved minor use registrations.

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