THE THREAT to the limited range of approved pesticides remains following an inconclusive meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday, writes Ewan Pate, the farming editor. It seems the future of a number of agrochemicals— including most of the triazole family of fungicides—will not now be debated fully for at least a month.

The well-established triazole range of fungicides is a key component of fungicide treatment for cereal crops in Scotland and has become more important again in recent years as disease resistance has built up to the more recently introduced strobilurins.

On Saturday at Fife Show National Farmers Union of Scotland president Jim McLaren, cereal committee chairman John Picken and east central region chairman Alan Bowie took the opportunity to brief the agricultural press and SNP MEP Ian Hudghton.

Mr McLaren said, “This is not the first time that there has been a threat to the limited armoury of active ingredients now available.

“Gramoxone, the contact herbicide, will be out by the end of this year with real implications for potato growers. This threat to triazoles is a particular problem in Scotland where cereals can be under greater threat of fungal attack thanks to our wet and cold climate.

“They are used in very small quantities—a coffee cup full in 200 litres of water per hectare sometimes— but they do keep disease resistance at bay.”

The immediate focus is on these fungicides but continuing pressure from the EU could see 85% of approvals withdrawn across the board.

John Picken said, “There are very effective controls on pesticide use in the UK through the Pesticides Safety Directorate but annoyingly the EU refuses to recognise this. There seems to be a very effective “green” lobby at work within the EU parliament.”

Acknowledging that there was often intense pressure from lobbying groups, Mr Hudghton said, “I am clear that science should play its part. Climatic considerations in different member states have to be taken into account. Consumer protection has to come first of course.”

“We have to recognise if there are better alternative agrochemicals but if there are not we should be putting pressure on to retain the existing ones.”

Even if the agriculture ministers do agree to end the approval of certain active ingredients it will ultimately be a co-decision with the European Parliament, which may scrutinise the proposals later in the year. The rotating EU presidency will then be in French hands, which may be helpful.

“Co-decisions between ministers and parliament are never easy to achieve in any event when there are 27 member states involved. I will be arguing the case from the Scottish perspective,” Mr Hudghton said.

Mr McLaren said, “I often feel we are not getting enough support from other countries. We must not allow our ability to produce food efficiently to be compromised at a time of food inflation.

“Of course part of the answer to reducing agrochemical use could lie with biotechnology and GM. For example potatoes naturally resistant to nematodes would reduce chemical use. Potato blight is another example—last year some growers were spraying up to 18 times to control blight when GM technology could provide resistant varieties.”

Alan Bowie, who runs an arable unit near Anstruther, said “There is pressure to reduce use of certain older herbicides but often the newer ones are not working as well and weed problems are developing,” he said.

“My hope is that we are not too far down the road on this process of withdrawing chemicals on a large scale and that decisions can be changed before it is too late.”