Beet growers have a neonic seed treatment for 2021

[yellow belly]

Do you think a keen bee keeper might like to put a hive in the middle of one of our beet fields? Would that work or wouldn't the bees like the move twice in one year?

the bee farmer here moves his bees about to different crops through out the year
more than 3 miles or not at all
the husbandry and management of bees is a complex as any other livestock farming
just leaving them in a field to fend for them selves gives poor results just as it does with sheep pigs chickens or cows
i am sure that many of the reported hive losses are due lack of attention weather disease and not pesticides

 

[yellow belly]

Well said that man 10/10.

beet farmers need to get organised and fund the research not expect others to do it

 

[Hindsight]

Do you think a keen bee keeper might like to put a hive in the middle of one of our beet fields? Would that work or wouldn't the bees like the move twice in one year?

If I can recall from when I had a couple of hives (inherited and am a failed bee keeper - so perfect to give advice on bees!) Can move bees anytime but must move them minimum distance I was told 3 metres or 3 miles as will go home to where they were they were and get lost. Shut up the pop hole overnight and move early morning before they get flying.

Mine swarmed and I was poor at stopping the new queens. And then although I fed with liquid sugar to strengthen the colonies I lost my final hive a few year ago now. Had them with young children who loved fresh comb from the hive - but a very sticky kitchen!

 

[Flat 10]

Patience until after the weekend I posted on the other thread the devil will be in the detail. Additional details will become available but I am assuming BS and NFUSugar were keen to get the headline news about the approval out to growers. Next week specifics regarding the approval will be notified and provide clarity for individual growers.

What are you getting at? We know rate and following crop conditions are you expecting anything else?

 

[Hindsight]

What are you getting at? We know rate and following crop conditions are you expecting anything else?

Sorry, not getting at anything Flat 10. Had to look back up the thread but I replied to a poster who seemed to be getting in a bit of a tizz. Just thought there might be a few more details if necessary for the following flowering crops and any other product stewardship requirements. If so I expect BBRO will give a full debrief next week. I do need though to ask if 75% rate of Cruiser is adequate for soil pest complex on Fen skirt soils.

 

[neilo]

What's the lowest DM/softest variety of sugar beet?

 

[Mark C]

What about Energy beet for AD? Asking for a friend who feeds it to actual cattle not a concrete one

 

[farmerm]

I bet Monbiot’s not happy?

Neither are the (not so) Independent

Government to let farmers use bee-killing pesticide banned in EU | The Independent What happened to reporting of news? Are newspapers now just a factory of clickbait material in which reporters are given a platform free to promote their own, often mis-informed personal agendas rather than a source of factual news? Main stream media is starting to make the shyt spouted from Dave and Karen on social media look like factual information!

 

[farmerfred86]

Do you think there will be sufficient time to treat, pellet, pack and distribute seeds before sowing time?

Seed is already pelleted... Just need the decision in Feb on the dressing which will go off to earliest farm and varieties first.

 

[robbie]

What's the lowest DM/softest variety of sugar beet?

Would it work if fodder beet was mixed with sugar beet seed, if an aphid landed on a fodder beet it could infect it but if it was planted next to a cruiser treated sugar beet it would succumb as soon as it migrated, preventing too much damage.

 

[Hindsight]

Would it work if fodder beet was mixed with sugar beet seed, if an aphid landed on a fodder beet it could infect it but if it was planted next to a cruiser treated sugar beet it would succumb as soon as it migrated, preventing too much damage.

The approval is specifically for sugar beet. While I appreciate your comment it is may I humbly suggest imperative if sugar beet growers, and farmers in general, are to be trusted that sugar beet is grown as a stand alone crop, as a sugar beet crop. Given the voracity of negative activity on Twitter since the announcement, the environmentalists will be watching and I suggest would just love some breach of the approval as an opportunity to say 'farmers just cannot be trusted' so never give into them again. Hey ho. I will get out of my pulpit now. And hope the issue is not raised again on a public forum. Best wishes.

 

[robbie]

LM

The approval is specifically for sugar beet. While I appreciate your comment it is may I humbly suggest imperative if sugar beet growers, and farmers in general, are to be trusted that sugar beet is grown as a stand alone crop, as a sugar beet crop. Given the voracity of negative activity on Twitter since the announcement, the environmentalists will be watching and I suggest would just love some breach of the approval as an opportunity to say 'farmers just cannot be trusted' so never give into them again. Hey ho. I will get out of my pulpit now. And hope the issue is not raised again on a public forum. Best wishes.

Point taken. I wasn't advocating or even intending to do anything like that. I was just saying it could work, is there anything in the derogation that says beet grown with dressing can't be used for stock????

I suppose a better way of looking at it is that hopefully the fodder beet area will be ok because of a reduced burden because of the sugar beet area.

 

[Hindsight]

LM

Point taken. I wasn't advocating or even intending to do anything like that. I was just saying it could work, is there anything in the derogation that says beet grown with dressing can't be used for stock????

I suppose a better way of looking at it is that hopefully the fodder beet area will be ok because of a reduced burden because of the sugar beet area.

Hi Robbie, apologies for being so pompous but I think you know why. I do not know if there is any specific requirement in the emergency approval that beet must be used for sugar extraction. And that is why earlier in this or the other thread running I said to a poster to be patient and that more details may come out after the weekend above and beyond the headline points as notified in the British Sugar email. Best wishes.

 

[Will Blackburn]

What's the lowest DM/softest variety of sugar beet?

BS will be in control of the seed, so you will need to know a friendly large contract holder who could lose a small % of seed.

 

[Will Blackburn]

What about Energy beet for AD? Asking for a friend who feeds it to actual cattle not a concrete one

BS have digesters so would treated beet be excluded

 

[Sonoftheheir]

I need an NFU press release to counter the Guardian article that some of my friends are sharing on Facebook, any links??

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Well I replied on Facebook (in reply to the Guardian story) what do you think?


We don’t want to have to use chemicals at all, especially anything that harms pollinators, but these aphid spread virus’s have cut our yields by half. The alternative was to spray insecticide up to 3 times across the whole field and kill any insects that happened to be in the field at the time. The Neonic seed coating is specifically targeted at the aphids when they feed on the crop. The link to killing bees is very tenuous, as sugar beet don’t flower and no actual research has been done on bees that feed near sugar beet fields. In the article it states that 11 Europe countries had already granted derogations to their farmers (including France) in this instance we would have been at a great disadvantage if a derogation had not been granted. Sainsbury’s for one imports many tons of French granulated sugar. The alternative could be to import cane sugar, I have no idea what chemicals they use, but I would hazard to guess that they use what ever is necessary to produce a crop to sell. We are hoping that a sugar beet can be bred (not GM) that is virus resistant, I believe the breeders are getting very close to this. Please (if you have time) read the statement from HMGov stating why the limited derogation has been granted -

Neonicotinoid product as seed treatment for sugar beet: emergency authorisation application 2024

The Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries grants conditional emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat seeds for the 2024 sugar beet seed crop in England.

www.gov.uk

 

[Flat 10]

Well I replied on Facebook (in reply to the Guardian story) what do you think?


We don’t want to have to use chemicals at all, especially anything that harms pollinators, but these aphid spread virus’s have cut our yields by half. The alternative was to spray insecticide up to 3 times across the whole field and kill any insects that happened to be in the field at the time. The Neonic seed coating is specifically targeted at the aphids when they feed on the crop. The link to killing bees is very tenuous, as sugar beet don’t flower and no actual research has been done on bees that feed near sugar beet fields. In the article it states that 11 Europe countries had already granted derogations to their farmers (including France) in this instance we would have been at a great disadvantage if a derogation had not been granted. Sainsbury’s for one imports many tons of French granulated sugar. The alternative could be to import cane sugar, I have no idea what chemicals they use, but I would hazard to guess that they use what ever is necessary to produce a crop to sell. We are hoping that a sugar beet can be bred (not GM) that is virus resistant, I believe the breeders are getting very close to this. Please (if you have time) read the statement from HMGov stating why the limited derogation has been granted -

Neonicotinoid product as seed treatment for sugar beet: emergency authorisation application 2024

The Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries grants conditional emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat seeds for the 2024 sugar beet seed crop in England.

www.gov.uk

Very good, top effort.

 

[Daniel]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1347956734955024385

.

Some of the activists on twitter are getting themselves into a right tizzy. This guy is particularly hard of thinking.

 

[Bogweevil]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1347956734955024385

.

Some of the activists on twitter are getting themselves into a right tizzy. This guy is particularly hard of thinking.

Defra have responded thus:

Reporting of strict controls for emergency pesticide authorisation
Posted by:Defra Press Office, Posted on:10 January 2021 - Categories:Weekly stories

There have been reports this morning in the Guardian and Independent of the emergency authorisation of a neonicotinoid seed treatment for the limited use only on the 2021 sugar beet crop.
Emerging sugar beet seedlings are vulnerable to predation by aphids which have the potential to spread beet yellows virus. Sugar beet crops have been severely affected and 2020 yields are forecast to be down by 20-25% on previous years.
The neonicotinoid Syngenta’s Cruiser SB will provide emergency protection while the beet industry develops alternative solutions. Its exceptional use will be strictly controlled.
Conditions of the authorisation include reduced application rate as well as a prohibition on any flowering crop being planted in the same field where the product has been used within 22 months of sugar beet and a prohibition on oilseed rape being planted with 32 months of sugar beet.
The coverage of this news does not reflect the fact that under EU legislation, member states may also grant emergency authorisations in exceptional circumstances.
10 EU countries including Belgium, Denmark and Spain - most EU countries with significant sugar production - have granted emergency authorisations for neonicotinoid seed treatments following the EU-wide ban - backed by the UK – coming into force.
The UK’s approach to the use of emergency authorisations has therefore not changed as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU.
A Defra spokesperson said:
“Emergency authorisations for pesticides are only granted in exceptional circumstances where diseases or pests cannot be controlled by any other reasonable means. Emergency authorisations are used by countries across Europe.
“Pesticides can only be used where we judge there to be no harm to human health and animal health and no unacceptable risks to the environment. The temporary use of this product is strictly limited to a non-flowering crop and will be tightly controlled to minimise any potential risk to pollinators.”
This exceptional use of Syngenta’s Cruiser SB will be strictly controlled and is for the 2021 sugar beet crop in England only. The duration of authorisation is strictly limited to the period required to allow supply of the product.
Protecting pollinators is a priority for this Government, and the UK is a world leader in developing greener farming practises and upholds the highest standards of environmental and health protection.
The government is currently consulting on the draft National Action Plan for the Sustainable use of Pesticides which sets out the ambition to further minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides to human health and the environment.