Beet growers have a neonic seed treatment for 2021

[Hindsight]

I smell a rat with this story. Either poor journalism or media bias. It doesn't stack up... Ill bet Barnier has never even heard about this.

I didn't reply but my thoughts are that Barnier was caught offhand with a question and old Barnier fired back without establishing the facts. One nil to the journo - who got his qoute for the appropriate rag. Its a funny old world out there. But I could be completely wrong and the EU impose sanctions despite using the same chems themselves - which is what you expect these darstardly Europeans, especially the French to do.

Of course the reality is our own side are more of a risk given the outrage from Labour Party and every wildlife NGO know to Fleet Street.

 

[Ruston3w]

Have you all got to grips with the latest exciting instalment? We are committed cover crop users , together with peas, potatoes and linseed in the rotation the 22 month rules mean we are out of the seed dressing shambles. Is it right we may see a tightening of the insecticide options on the back of the neonic dressing being sort of available (sometime ,maybe)? Is there anything else they could come up with to put us off further?

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

I havnt read the full thread so may of missed it, have the red beet boys got the dressing as well?

 

[Flat 10]

I havnt read the full thread so may of missed it, have the red beet boys got the dressing as well?

no

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

With this treatment back available will sugar beet be a more appealing crop again or is the price still too shite?

 

[AlfM]

With this treatment back available will sugar beet be a more appealing crop again or is the price still too shite?

Still too shite

 

[Flat 10]

With this treatment back available will sugar beet be a more appealing crop again or is the price still too shite?

It probably won’t perform as before and the cercospora (a fungal disease) issue hasn’t been solved. The price is poor but it’s the low yields that are killing us

 

[Bogweevil]

I havnt read the full thread so may of missed it, have the red beet boys got the dressing as well?

Barnier threatens UK punishment for pesticide use – same is used in EU

BRUSSELS negotiator Michel Barnier has threatened Britain with punishment tariffs for reintroducing a previously banned pesticide - even though the same pesticide is used in 11 European Union states.

www.express.co.uk

Meanwhile back in the real world:

Specifically noting “the debate over pesticides” in the UK, Mr Barnier said diverging EU and UK rules were a natural consequence of Brexit, but that “one ought to be careful . . . otherwise there will be consequences in terms of going on exporting without tariff without quota to our market”. He also warned that goods destined for the EU market had to comply with the bloc’s standards. He noted the UK had reciprocal rights under the deal to pursue the EU.

Although it is not necessarily seen in Brussels as a sign of a wider deregulatory shift, the UK last week granted temporary authorisation for the use of a pesticide suspected of being harmful to bees because of concerns about a disease attacking sugar beets. “Pesticides concern public health, the health of farmers, farm workers and consumers,” Mr Barnier said. “Depending on where you set the threshold in that area it can also have an impact on competition and competitiveness.”

Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/4788c361-7b72-46e9-b861-1d29d0662ad2

 

[Bogweevil]

I havnt read the full thread so may of missed it, have the red beet boys got the dressing as well?

It is not my crop but I think successional sowings are made from February until mid-summer- the earliest and the latest sowings would often escape damage.

 

[DrWazzock]

When I grew fodder beet in the gap years between dropping sugar beet in 2008 and resuming it 2016, I never really considered the impact of virus yellows. Some years we had very good yields of fodder beet (40 t/acre) and other years we didn't. It was just "oh well it's one of those things". Its the same with beetroot in the garden. It's never a disaster despite never being treated for aphids. It "makes you wonder".
And I was reading an old Harper year book mag thing the other night that I found in the libaray. One of my brothers went there. An old college fellow had passed away, an entomologist, and he was an expert on flea beetle in the 1920's. Its all been done before and comes around and around.

 

[DrWazzock]

I often wonder if we are any better off with inputs that guarantee a big harvest every year (and low prices every year) or without inputs that guarantee a famine and high prices some years.

 

[Flat 10]

When I grew fodder beet in the gap years between dropping sugar beet in 2008 and resuming it 2016, I never really considered the impact of virus yellows. Some years we had very good yields of fodder beet (40 t/acre) and other years we didn't. It was just "oh well it's one of those things". Its the same with beetroot in the garden. It's never a disaster despite never being treated for aphids. It "makes you wonder".
And I was reading an old Harper year book mag thing the other night that I found in the libaray. One of my brothers went there. An old college fellow had passed away, an entomologist, and he was an expert on flea beetle in the 1920's. Its all been done before and comes around and around.

It’s a disaster here.

 

[DrWazzock]

It’s a disaster here.

Would it be a disaster every year? Flea beetle doesn’t seem to be a big problem this year.

 

[ajd132]

Would it be a disaster every year? Flea beetle doesn’t seem to be a big problem this year.

maybe things are beginning to level out for flea beetle, some years may be worse than others. we still have insect pests after 70 + years of using insecticides so they havnt been that good.

 

[Flat 10]

Would it be a disaster every year? Flea beetle doesn’t seem to be a big problem this year.

Not necessarily.

 

[DrWazzock]

Anyway I welcome the neonic seed coating as it does get us out of an immediate and pressing risk.
The bigger picture is more complex though. Has concentration of beet growing into one area of the country increased risk by shortening rotations and concentrating pests. Would it have been better to keep northern factories open so all eggs arent in one localised east Anglian climate basket. If east anglia get hotter and drier it isn’t going to help.
I know when we grew a few acres of potatoes rotated round the farm (as many once did) I’d never heard of PCN till I went to a NRoSO meeting.
It does make wonder at times if we are pushing things beyond what’s sustainable. And let’s not consider whether we really such vast quantities of refined sugar. I make a living at it. But should we as a country be looking to healthier foods. Not ungrateful, just saying.

 

[ajd132]

Anyway I welcome the neonic seed coating as it does get us out of an immediate and pressing risk.
The bigger picture is more complex though. Has concentration of beet growing into one area of the country increased risk by shortening rotations and concentrating pests. Would it have been better to keep northern factories open so all eggs arent in one localised east Anglian climate basket. If east anglia get hotter and drier it isn’t going to help.
I know when we grew a few acres of potatoes rotated round the farm (as many once did) I’d never heard of PCN till I went to a NRoSO meeting.
It does make wonder at times if we are pushing things beyond what’s sustainable. And let’s not consider whether we really such vast quantities of refined sugar. I make a living at it. But should we as a country be looking to healthier foods. Not ungrateful, just saying.

it seems to me the really mega affected beet is on the really productive land on east anglia that grows alot of veg/salad etc. big insecticide use in those areas throughtout the rotation on those high value crops and the geographical position probably does not help either.

 

[Sonoftheheir]

I had a thought today, the first year neonics were banned we handed back 4 units of treated seed that cost us over £700 to buy. Now we have 4 units in store that is untreated, will that still be any good in another year or so? Or is that another £700 odd quid wasted?

 

[Flat 10]

I had a thought today, the first year neonics were banned we handed back 4 units of treated seed that cost us over £700 to buy. Now we have 4 units in store that is untreated, will that still be any good in another year or so? Or is that another £700 odd quid wasted?

Why on earth wouldn't you mix it in? Don't get left with any this year!

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Why on earth wouldn't you mix it in? Don't get left with any this year!

Didn’t think of that