Fury over ban on key pesticide

Cereal growers yesterday bemoaned the loss of one of the most effective pesticides of the past 50 years in the battle against fungal disease, with one estimate putting the ban on using chlorothalonil as potentially halving the margins in growing wheat or barley

The decision to ban the pesticide was made by the European Standing Committee On Plants, Animals, Food And Feed who recommended the nonrenewal of approval. This means chlorothalonil will be withdrawn although no dates have been given yet. Products containing chlorothalonil, such as Bravo, are already in use this growing season.

Ian Sands, chairman of NFU Scotland’s combinable crops committee, who farms just under 2,000 acres in Perthshire, described the ban as “a massive set-back” for the cereal growing sector with huge potential to affect the whole of the Scottish food and drink industry.

“Growers like myself will find it very hard to understand why a product that has been in use since 1964 is now deemed to be unsafe.withoutdoubt,this product is the main stay of fungal disease control in Scotland’s most important crop, barley, where it is the only effective tool available for the control of ramularia leaf spot.

“A bad infestation can cause a fall in yield of 0.6 tonnes per hectare, equivalent to more than 10 per cent of crop lost. Ramularia also impairs quality and can increase screenings, hitting those who are growing for a quality market like malt whisky.”

Sands also pointed out that the fungicide was also important in cocktails designed to protect other crops such as wheat where alternative were nowhere near as effective.

He believed that with the number of plant protection products available to growers shrinking, the loss of chlorothalonil had the potential to make the viability of growing crops border line, adding: “Factor in that this product is still going to be allowed to be used in other countries out with the EU, then this is disastrous for our growers.”