Demonstration of pesticide rinsate biobeds to promote grower adoption in Canada

Project Code: PRR21-010

Project Leads

Tobias Laengle - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Erin Smith - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Objective

To transfer knowledge and provide growers with hands-on experience in on-farm adoption of the biobed technology.

Studies have shown that pesticide handling areas on farms, where sprayers are filled and washed, can act as significant point sources contributing to 20 to 70% pesticide contamination of surface and groundwater. Biobed technology was developed over 20 years ago in Sweden as a means for safe disposal of pesticide rinsate through an efficient biofiltration method to remove pesticides before releasing treated water into the environment. Today, this technology is well established and adopted in Europe with more than 5,000 biobeds across farming operations. The AAFC researchers have contributed to the scientific advancements required to introduce and adapt biobeds to the northern climate regions of Canada. Also, AAFC-led studies have demonstrated the efficacy of biobeds in Prairie agro-ecosystems, with reductions of more than 90% of herbicide residues from sprayer rinsate. As a result, biobed units have been built for local use and demonstration purposes at several AAFC centres. Early adopters in the Prairie Provinces and Quebec have already started using biobeds on commercial farms. However, no operational biobeds are currently established on farms in Atlantic Canada.

This 2-year project aims to demonstrate the biobed technology to growers by establishing operational biobed systems at a commercial farm in Truro area, Nova Scotia and at the St. John’s Research and Development Centre in Newfoundland and Labrador. These biobed systems will be used to treat pesticide rinsate from local sources, and will serve as demonstration sites where visiting growers can see the operational set up and processes involved with using biobeds, and also learn about their benefits, construction and adoption. The project aims to:

  1. support the construction and operation of on-farm biobed systems and provide opportunities for growers to receive real world exposure on how biobeds can be used to reduce environmental contamination from pesticide waste and rinsate from washing spray equipment;
  2. evaluate the rate of pesticide removal from sprayer rinsate as a result of filtration through the biobed system.

As part of a targeted knowledge transfer plan to communicate the information to grower and scientific communities, a technical factsheet on biobed use and an updated biobed manual (current version) will be published online.

Direct grower involvement in the development of Best Management Practices has been shown to be a key predictor for grower buy-in and the adoption of new technologies on a wider scale. The project will take a co-development collaborative approach to working with growers, capitalizing on the wealth of experience and practical operational knowledge growers bring to the table. This will ensure that the biobed technology is adapted to, and practical for their local growing conditions. This approach is expected to facilitate the adoption of the biobed technology by growers, and as a result help mitigate the pesticide risk to aquatic ecosystems and water resources in Atlantic Canada.