Scottish growers have been granted year-round access to a pair of neonicitinoids for use on oilseed rape.
However, the limited authorisation while welcomed north and south of the Border has been widely acknowledged by the farming unions as “too late in the season to be of much use” to UK farmers.
The comment follows the news Defra has granted Certis a 120-day extension permitting the use of InSyst to protect winter oilseed rape from further damage as a result of cabbage stem flea beetle.
“We have pushed hard for this approval over the last few weeks and, while we are pleased to see it finally come through, we are frustrated by the time it has taken,” said the vice-president of the English National Farmers Union Guy Smith.
Mr Smith said that for the many farmers trying to combat the menace of flea beetle, this approval will provide a “new vital tool in their tool box” when it comes to establishing good crops of oilseed rape.
However, he also said the response from farmers who have already seen their crops significantly compromised by beetles is bound to be “if only we had had these products sooner”.
“The challenge of growing oilseed rape this autumn without a key crop protection tool demonstrates well the points we have raised in our Healthy Harvest campaign,” said Mr Smith.
Mr Smith also said it was time that regulators understood “the impacts their decisions can have” on the ability of farmers to produce a reliable supply of affordable, healthy food to meet a growing demand.
Meanwhile, Bayer CropScience has been granted approval for year-round use of its Biscaya product against aphids.
This extension has been granted to relieve pressure on farmers attempting to control aphids and the destructive turnips yellow virus they spread, in the absence of control by neonicotinoid seed treatments.
The Scottish Government has confirmed the approvals were UK-wide, and that Scottish farmers could use both products.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Both these products have been available to farmers across the UK, including Scotland, since 2007 to spray once on oilseed rape in the spring/summer to help combat damage caused by pollen beetle.”
Now, the authorisation will allow oilseed rape to be sprayed once in autumn to help control aphid damage and cabbage stem flea beetle.
He said neither substance was included in EU regulations on neonicotinoids introduced last year.
“The use of these two neonicotinoids are considered acceptable for bees, which only forage on oilseed rape when it is flowering and so are not at risk once in the autumn when flowering has finished,” added Mr Lochhead.
However, NFU Scotland vice-president Allan Bowie said the limited authorisation had come too late in the season to be of much use.
“Although this year some pest pressures have not been as great in Scotland as south of the border, NFU Scotland continues to be concerned that climate change will throw ever greater pest management challenges at the cropping sector.
“Without a good range of tools to meet these challenges, food production in Scotland will be put under severe pressure.”