The Weed Control Act was initiated by the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture and came into effect July 1, 1967. The intent of the Act is to preserve the quality of agricultural land, and provide protection from weeds which can inflict ill health on humans and animals. In Nova Scotia the term noxious weeds has regulatory meaning, and refers to only those weeds which are designated under our Act.

A noxious weed is a plant which has a direct or indirect detrimental effect to the management of agricultural or nonagricultural ecosystems. These weeds may be highly destructive, invasive, competitive, difficult to control, of limited/or have no distribution, and may be highly toxic.

At present there are 10 weeds which are differentiated into two classes: ‘Class Number One' are those capable of spreading from the source to cultivated or pasture land; and ‘Class Number Two' are those capable of inflicting economic loss or ill health on people within the Province.

Nova Scotia Noxious Weeds