Enhanced metaldehyde stewardship launched

[Desangosse Ltd]

The Metaldehyde Stewardship Group has launched an enhanced campaign for 2017 to ensure maximum protection of the environment, and in particular birds, small mammals, and water.

Speaking at the launch event, Simon McMunn, spokesman for the Metaldehyde Stewardship Group (MSG), explained why the campaign has evolved, and what this means for UK agriculture.

“It’s important to note that water stewardship remains vital and is still very much at the heart of the campaign,” he explained.

“However, an issue that’s distinct from the water quality is that metaldehyde products are undergoing re-registration. And the regulatory risk assessment, which forms part of this process, has revealed a requirement for increased protection of birds and small mammals.

“Because of this, stewardship is now a CRD-agreed condition of metaldehyde product availability and regulators will be monitoring the campaign success closely.

“This means it’s more important than ever for the industry to pull together and follow stewardship advice, to help preserve the future of the active ingredient, which remains a key tool in slug control.”

The MSG highlighted four stewardship steps that should be implemented.

“Firstly, there is a new guideline for 2017 which states that no pellets should be allowed to fall within a minimum of 10 metres of any field boundary or watercourse,” explained Simon.

“The buffer was previously six metres and it only applied to watercourses. However, increasing it to 10 metres of all field boundaries will help protect birds and small mammals, and provide additional protection to water,” he added.

“Secondly, with the view of helping to minimise slug infestations and reduce the need for treatment, metaldehyde slug pellets must only be used as part of a wider Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programme.

“Factors such as soil and stubble management, planting methods, weather, trapping and monitoring should all be considered as part of slug control programmes. And, if treatment is necessary, it’s imperative to refer to the full set of MSG guidelines,” he added.

“A field’s soil type, topography and proximity to a water course are key to whether metaldehyde applications could be a risk that will subsequently impact drinking water quality, and should always be considered.

“And, last but not least, we want people to stop and think ‘B.I.R.D’ before applying. This stands for Buffer, I’m legal, Records, and Dose.

“These steps are all easy to implement but will have significant impacts on the future of metaldehyde availability. I’d really encourage everyone one to get involved and apply pellets responsibly.”

Speaking at the event, David Ellerton of Hutchinsons endorsed the role of stewardship.

“I firmly believe that stewardship is one of the core reasons that metaldehyde is still available to farmers and it’s a credit to the work of the MSG and the agricultural industry over the past nine years.

“In common with all the agronomy organisations, Hutchinsons is fully behind the enhanced campaign and I will be personally spreading the best practise messages in my role as the firm’s Stewardship Champion.

“We need to keep this momentum going forwards and I’d therefore encourage the agricultural industry to engage with the enhanced stewardship and implement the necessary steps required to protect metaldehyde.”

Label recommendation

The MSG has clarified that labels on packs of slug pellets remain unchanged for 2017. However, the group is clear that the highlighted steps should be implemented with immediate effect.

More information

More information on the enhanced stewardship can be found at www.getpelletwise.co.uk

 

[spin cycle]

pissing in the wind....the buffer will be ignored and as long as the paperwork is ok no-one is the wiser...i mean are we going to see bare 10m strips around fields where the slugs have feasted?....if not then the application on the rest of the field was not needed?

these schemes are just delaying the day when we as an industry have to call the bluff and say 'go ahead but don't come crying when food prices rise or there's none at all'

if they want to give us something useful....let us burn straw

JMO....fortunately

 

[Steevo]

Slugs rarely target the outside of a field anyway. If ever I pellet I almost never do headlands anyway.

 

[Desangosse Ltd]

pissing in the wind....the buffer will be ignored and as long as the paperwork is ok no-one is the wiser...i mean are we going to see bare 10m strips around fields where the slugs have feasted?....if not then the application on the rest of the field was not needed?

these schemes are just delaying the day when we as an industry have to call the bluff and say 'go ahead but don't come crying when food prices rise or there's none at all'

if they want to give us something useful....let us burn straw

JMO....fortunately

I completely concur with you regards the food availability and security argument. This is a topic that policy makers fully understand and appreciate.

I urge all growers to adhere to the enhanced stewardship guidelines to ensure we retain this key active for UK agriculture. The buffer zone can be managed with the normal IPM principles and there is the opportunity to use the alternative products if necessary.

The straw burning discussion is a whole new topic in itself.........

We are looking to recruit farmer ambassadors, maybe we could call upon your services

 

[Hampton]

On the Severn Trent scheme. Did you talk to us near Bridgnorth a few months back? Chap from De Sangosse

 

[Desangosse Ltd]

On the Severn Trent scheme. Did you talk to us near Bridgnorth a few months back? Chap from De Sangosse

If it's positive feedback, yep that was me

 

[Hampton]

If it's positive feedback, yep that was me

It was a good talk. Having previously been an agronomist I have been bored to tears by folks talking about chemicals, but I found your talk very good

 

[An Gof]

Slugs rarely target the outside of a field anyway. If ever I pellet I almost never do headlands anyway.

My experience is somewhat different. Biggest losses close to hedges. Add that to small average field sizes in SW and 10m untreated against a hedge is going to be a big ask of Stewardship in areas like this.

 

[Badshot]

Lots of sluxx will be used, I do headlands with it now anyway so no great shakes.
I'd love to be able to have draza to fall back on occasionally though.

 

[spin cycle]

I completely concur with you regards the food availability and security argument. This is a topic that policy makers fully understand and appreciate.

I urge all growers to adhere to the enhanced stewardship guidelines to ensure we retain this key active for UK agriculture. The buffer zone can be managed with the normal IPM principles and there is the opportunity to use the alternative products if necessary.

The straw burning discussion is a whole new topic in itself.........

We are looking to recruit farmer ambassadors, maybe we could call upon your services

i don't use slug pellets and have switched from arable to sheep....i got so tired of red tractor that i've left.....during my 18 assured years i religously went to csf/ne/ea 'seminars' and 'workshops'.....four things struck me 1/ how poorly these events were attended in relation to the number of farmers in the area 2/how many farmers thought it was something to pay lip service to 3/ how the targets for levels of pesticide in water are so low that trying to achieve them is futile and 4/ that pesticide targets in water have little to do with drinking water quality

i could go on about Nitrates...muck...other AI's but i'm knackered through a day busy putting cypermethin on sheep

i've no idea what a 'farmer ambassador' is but i doubt you'd want me

straw burning is central to this debate.....prior the ban slugs were only a problem on the heaviest soils and i'd never heard of blackgrass

 

[Gav]

Lots of sluxx will be used, I do headlands with it now anyway so no great shakes.
I'd love to be able to have draza to fall back on occasionally though.

You're not the only one doing this on headlands, it's something I've heard a lot on this year whilst doing Pa4s training all over East Anglia. As you say, no great chore in doing them first with a different product.

Most common one I hear is bring back Decoy Wettex, mostly from the potato growers!

 

[Cropper]

My experience is somewhat different. Biggest losses close to hedges. Add that to small average field sizes in SW and 10m untreated against a hedge is going to be a big ask of Stewardship in areas like this.

Same here especially in rape, usually have the first couple of metres next to hedge/grass margin totally destroyed, slugs harboured by the grass margins. Another good reason to get rid of them when scheme ends. As you say it biggest disadvantage to those with environmentally friendly small field sizes, again!

 

[Gong Farmer]

You're not the only one doing this on headlands, it's something I've heard a lot on this year whilst doing Pa4s training all over East Anglia. As you say, no great chore in doing them first with a different product.

Most common one I hear is bring back Decoy Wettex, mostly from the potato growers!

This will lead to a lot of ferric phosphate products used on headlands, growers noticing equivalent control (and price in some cases) so ditching metaldehyde altogether. (Maybe that's the cunning plan)

 

[spin cycle]

Same here especially in rape, usually have the first couple of metres next to hedge/grass margin totally destroyed, slugs harboured by the grass margins. Another good reason to get rid of them when scheme ends. As you say it biggest disadvantage to those with environmentally friendly small field sizes, again!

i can remember being told that we needed to plant such areas to harbour predators of slugs.....funnily enough they went quiet on that after a while

 

[Desangosse Ltd]

This will lead to a lot of ferric phosphate products used on headlands, growers noticing equivalent control (and price in some cases) so ditching metaldehyde altogether. (Maybe that's the cunning plan)

Correct - There is an active drive to reduce the amount of metaldehyde applied each year. This is a commitment we have made.

 

[david]

I think metaldehyde will likely be gone in 2-3 years time. When you see data from water companies, metaldehyde is often off the scale.

Experience with Sluxx and Ironmax Pro has been very good, and suggest growers to go an try some. I also understand that ferric is better at killing juvenile slugs compared to metaldehyde - @drummer_bruhaha - do you have any data to support this ?

Also growers need to 'manage' their slug populations now, in the past when things got in the sh!t you reached for a bag of Draza and that generally sorted things out. Now we don't have the luxury of Draza.

 

[Mr Charisma]

As with others I will act more responsibly from now on and apply sluxx to all headlands ,

 

[Desangosse Ltd]

I think metaldehyde will likely be gone in 2-3 years time. When you see data from water companies, metaldehyde is often off the scale.

Experience with Sluxx and Ironmax Pro has been very good, and suggest growers to go an try some. I also understand that ferric is better at killing juvenile slugs compared to metaldehyde - @drummer_bruhaha - do you have any data to support this ?

Also growers need to 'manage' their slug populations now, in the past when things got in the sh!t you reached for a bag of Draza and that generally sorted things out. Now we don't have the luxury of Draza.

The whole mantra of the enhanced stewardship to to ensure we retain this key active for many years to come. The enhanced stewardship will encompass a greater protection to water, the water companies are very supportive of the initiative.

Great to hear your positive experience with ferric. Certis are the company that has done the work on juveniles. My observations are that both ferric and metaldehyde work equally as well when the bait is of high quality.

The focus on the use if IPM encompasses the whole farm approach to managing slug pressure. As you quite rightly say, if we can proactively manage the pressure and not be chasing our tails, hopefully we can stay ahead of the game. Or as some might say........good farming techniques and common sense

 

[Brisel]

There's a dodgy looking dude on the Get Pelletwise home page...

Can you just clarify what a field boundary is @drummer_bruhaha ? The edge of the field or the edge of the crop? Most of my fields have 6-12m Countryside Stewardship margins anyway. I do get a lot of slugs crawling out of said field margins to munch the crops.

FWIW I wouldn't want to be an ambassador as I'm not in a priority catchment and still own 2 spinning disc broadcasters (and don't always use DeSangosse pellets either), however I do use very narrow banded outlets on my rolls for the first pass of pellets (Techneat Terracast now a Vaderstad Biodrill). That same dodgy bloke gave me a couple of slug bait mats a little while ago too

 

[Steevo]

Nobody's asked what the benefits of being an ambassador are! Do you get as many ferric pellets as you can spread? A free pelleter? Three cakes delivered each week?

Or just a warm fuzzy feeling?