SCOTTISH farmers have warned of serious damage to crops across the land after a UK Government quango refused an emergency appeal to allow the use of a pesticide to control infestation by leatherjackets.
Earlier this year, the York-based chemicals regulations directorate (CRD) hurriedly banned the use of pesticides containing the substance chlorpyrifos which the World Health Organisation classifies as “moderately toxic”.
Used under various trade names, chlorpyrifos is reckoned by farmers as the most effective pesticide in controlling leatherjackets, which are the larvae of types of flies such as the crane fly, known colloquially as the Daddy or Jenny Long Legs.
The name belies the voracious nature of the insect in its larva stage, and almost as soon as the ban on chlorpyrifos came into effect on April 1, Scottish farmers began to report a big increase in leatherjacket infestation on grasslands in particular.
Anecdotal evidence within the farming community is leading farmers’ leaders to conclude that leatherjackets now pose a serious and widespread threat to grasslands.
Farmers are angry that a pesticide which was used for decades and is reckoned by experts to be not a serious threat to humans was withdrawn, as one farmer told The National, in a “matter of days, and with no consultation”.
On behalf of its members, the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) lodged an emergency appeal to the CRD to allow 120 days’ use of chlorpyrifos but that was rejected earlier this week.
NFUS explained: “Farmers and crofters now have been left with no economic means of controlling damaging leatherjackets on grassland, following the rejection of an NFUS emergency authorisation application for the use of chlorpyrifos.
“Widely-used plant protection products (PPP) like Dursban WG and Equity, which contained the active substance chlorpyrifos, were used for decades to control a wide range of pests in grassland, arable crops, vegetables and soft fruit. The products help control pests such as aphids, caterpillars, wheat bulb fly and leatherjackets. In February, the CRD announced that authorisations for products containing chlorpyrifos would be revoked within a matter of weeks. At this time CRD said that it did not expect those using chlorpyrifos, or commodities treated with it, to pose a risk to human health.
“The announcement meant that from 1 April 2016 it was illegal to sell, distribute or use products containing chlorpyrifos except under very limited circumstances.
“Almost immediately NFUS received reports from members across the country that their crops were sustaining leatherjacket damage and they called on the union for assistance.
“After analysing the situation, NFUS took action. It worked with NFU England and Wales, Ulster Farmers’ Union and Dow Agrochemicals Ltd, to submit an application to CRD for a 120-day emergency authorisation for use of Equity, a PPP containing chlorpyrifos, to control leatherjackets on new sown leys and established grassland this autumn. CRD has now notified NFUS that it has rejected its application.”
Andrew McCornick, NFUS’s vice president, said: “NFUS is bitterly disappointed that CRD has rejected its application. The toolkit for grassland farmers and crofters, as well as others affected by pests previously controlled with chlorpyrifos, is empty.
“We had sought limited and controlled access to chlorpyrifos with robust safeguards for human health. Unfortunately, CRD, despite recently stating the product posed no risk to human health, has denied farmers and crofters access to it.
“The union is already aware of impacts from the loss of chlorpyrifos on farms and crofts across Scotland. As a matter of urgency we will explore new options and seek support from the Scottish and UK governments.”
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