Minnesota Trout Unlimited submitted comments in July to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture urging stronger regulation of neonicotinoid-treated crop seeds to protect our trout streams, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems.

Our comments point to the MDA’s own monitoring data showing that these insecticides are widespread in Minnesota’s surface and groundwater, with concentrations in streams routinely reaching levels harmful to aquatic insects. MDA has identified neonicitonoid-treated seeds as the leading source of this contamination, particularly following spring planting.

This matters for trout because aquatic insects form the base of their food web. We point out that many of our several thousand members frequently discuss having observed a decline in insect hatches on trout streams in the agriculture-dense region of southeast Minnesota, while those who fish the non-agricultural areas of northeast Minnesota report observing consistently strong hatches.

Our comments highlighted the importance of trout fishing to southeast Minnesota’s economy and argue that treated seeds have not been shown to provide farmers with economic benefit compared to untreated seeds.

See our comments in full below.