Rapeseed fields are not a yellow peril . . .
STEPHEN MOSS’S article on the oilseed rape crop (Mail) may express his own opinion of the appearance and value of it in the uK, but much of what he claims is incorrect. I am growing rape for the 42nd consecutive year. rape oil provides most households with our only home-grown source of vegetable cooking oil. The residue is used as valuable high-protein animal feed. Most people say the magnificent yellow flowers in April and May are an enhancement to the landscape and the birds including reed buntings, yellow hammers, tree sparrows, linnets and gold finches that are busily feeding on the crop think it is marvellous. It is untrue that the crop is drenched in chemicals that kill bees. My fields are never sprayed with insecticide between November and harvesting in July.
RICHARD HARVEY, Oakham, Rutland. IN HIS article about oilseed rape, Stephen Moss states that farmers use neonic insecticides on this crop. But neonics are banned. He says East Anglia is awash with this bright yellow crop. But because farmers can no longer use neonics it has become difficult to grow. How strange that he states oilseed rape is like crack cocaine to honeybees and kills them — I have not seen dead bees in fields. Farmers have to leave a buffer zone when spraying around watercourses or face a heavy fine, so it is wrong to say this causes pollution. What about the spraying of other arable crops or would you prefer that we do not tackle ergot, a fungus on rye, wheat and barley, which has been linked to miscarriages.
MARGOT DARBY, Haddenham, Cambs. THE problems with oilseed rape don’t end when it is harvested. I have to avoid bakery, sauce and fried products that contain unrefined rapeseed oil and find it increasingly difficult to eat out. This oil should be added to the list of allergens in ingredients lists and rapeseed oil-free products should be introduced.
C. NEWTON, Southend-on-Sea, Essex.