Not later than January 1, 2017, the Commissioner of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, shall develop best practices for minimizing the airborne liberation of neonicotinoid insecticide dust from treated seeds and mitigating the effects of such dust on pollinators. Such best practices shall include, but not be limited to: (1) Methods to minimize such dust when treated seeds are dispensed from a seed bag into seed planter equipment; (2) guidance on the positioning of the vacuum system discharge of seed planter equipment to direct such discharge toward the soil; (3) time frames for the mowing of flowering vegetation located next to crop fields; (4) identification of weather conditions that minimize drift of such dust; and (5) suggestions for the use of seed lubricants to effectively minimize the drift of such dust. Each such state agency shall make the best practices developed pursuant to this section available to farmers, any person who owns, operates or manages a farm or an agricultural facility and the general public by posting such best practices on the Internet web site of such state agency not later than February 15, 2017. For purposes of this section, section 22-90a, subsection (l) of section 22a-50, sections 22a-61a and 22a-61b and section 6 of public act 16-17*, “neonicotinoid,” means any pesticide that acts selectively on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of an organism, including clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and any other such pesticide that the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, after consultation with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, determines will result in the death of fifty per cent or more of a population of bees when two micrograms or less of such pesticide is applied to each bee within such population.
(P.A. 16-17, S. 1.)
*Note: Section 6 of public act 16-17 is special in nature and therefore has not been codified but remains in full force and effect according to its terms.
History: P.A. 16-17 effective May 6, 2016.