Health Canada issued a letter of no objection to the Canadian Agricultural Drone Association (CADA) on June 10, creating an interim pathway for farmers to apply any pesticide already registered for aerial application using remotely piloted aircraft.

“Previously there were no agricultural pesticides approved by PMRA to apply by drone at all, so there was literally nothing that could be applied legally,” said Markus Weber, president of the Canadian Agricultural Drone Association.

It followed a February proposal by the federal Pesticides Regulatory Directorate (formerly Pest Management Regulatory Agency) to formally recognize drones as aerial application equipment.

The change brings Health Canada’s February proposal, which would formally classify drones as aircraft and open registered aerial pesticides to drone application, into force on an interim basis until a final policy is published, expected later this summer or fall.

However, farmers aren’t waiting for the final rules. Drone application has already happened this season, driven in part by the wet weather that made conventional ground equipment impossible to operate in affected areas.

Tom Wolf, an application specialist with Agrimetrix Research & Training and the website Sprayers101, called the regulatory shift a ?significant departure” from the agency’s historically cautious, science-based approach.