On Tuesday 23 June, the APVMA released its final regulatory decisions on paraquat and diquat after nearly three decades of review. The decisions affect a large number of products, including familiar trade names such as:

• SEED®
• GRAMOXONE®
• REGLONE®

While paraquat and diquat have not been completely withdrawn, the APVMA has imposed substantial reductions on permitted rates and introduced a range of new restrictions. The primary concerns were worker exposure, animal exposure, and residues and international trade (maximum residue limits).

Horticulture has fared very poorly from the review. For the industries that we work with, the restrictions are serious and substantial. The key changes include:

• removal of certain uses across vegetable crops
• removal of diquat for potato haulm desiccation
• restriction of some uses to spot spraying only
• substantial reductions in the application rates for retained uses
• prohibition or restriction of certain application equipment
• mandatory use of closed mixing and loading systems in some cases
• strengthened personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements
• revised re-entry intervals and additional spray drift controls.

The APVMA has been rewriting and publishing revised product labels since announcing its final regulatory decisions. With access to some of these labels, we are now in a position to better understand what the new requirements mean in practice. The following information provides a simplified summary only of what we understand to be the only remaining use patterns relevant to the businesses we represent. Growers and users should always refer to the approved product label for the definitive conditions of use.

Diquat products (e.g. Reglone®) 46534ELBL.pdf

• blanket spray at 1.4 L/ha for certain brassicas, bulb onions, certain fruit vegetables, cucumbers, leafy vegetables, legume vegetables, root and tube vegetables

Paraquat products (e.g. Gramoxone®) 95277ELBL.pdf

There is basically nothing left of this label for the vegetable sector except for:

• fallow establishment or to prepare a clean bed for sowing
• non-Agricultural situations, around sheds, roadways, paths
• firebreaks

Paraquat plus diquat (e.g. Spray.Seed®) 66788ELBL.pdf

• pre-crop emergent spot spraying only in vegetable crops (240 – 320 mL per 100L)
• spot spraying in market gardens and nurseries (240 – 320 mL per 100L)
• spot spraying in potatoes (240 mL per 100L)

The APVMA has provided a 24-month period to allow existing stock (from warehouse to farm) with old labels to continue to be used in accordance with those labels. Any product manufactured and packaged after 23 June will be required to carry a new label that complies with the new conditions. While a 24-month transition period may sound generous, it is unlikely to take long for existing stocks to clear through the supply chain.

AUSVEG will continue to work with affected businesses, registrants and innovators to identify practical alternatives and support the transition to the new requirements. There is no single solution, and different crops and production systems will require different approaches, including alternative chemistries, modified application strategies and, in some cases, greater reliance on non-chemical control methods.

For more information contact:

David Daniels

National Agrichemical Manager

M 0402 270 554

E david.daniels@ausveg.com.au