Going insecticide free

[TJ61]

Is £45 per hectare from SFI enough to take the risk of not spraying for BYDV ? Appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

[yellow belly]

Depend where you are
Altitude
Drilling date
Previous crop

here at 300 to 400 ft
Relatively cold area for south of the Humber
Also notill with plenty of aphid preditors having not used inscecticide on any crop in the last 10 years

I personally have not sprayed for bydv since the 1990s and had very little bydv
Drill last week is September
The higher risk crops are second wheat , crops after oats with green stubble

will claim the no insecticide an every acre

 

[teslacoils]

Depends if you're happy with one less tool. Not used any insecticide for ages. Would I be happy not having the option? Not really.

 

[DrWazzock]

No. If you end up a ton an acre down on your winter wheat due to BYDV that’s the thick end of £500 per hectare lost for £45 per hectare.

 

[essex man]

No. If you end up a ton an acre down on your winter wheat due to BYDV that’s the thick end of £500 per hectare lost for £45 per hectare.

You can avoid that by spraying and claiming the payment.
How is this being policed?

 

[robs1]

Not used any since 2012 so going to claim it, no doubt one season it will bite me but I think we should avoid them if possible, doesn't do our image a lot of good.

 

[Against_the_grain]

Risking £500/Ha for £45/Ha is something only a farmer would do! I suspect as mentioned above many will claim the money and still apply the insecticide.

 

[Badshot]

There's a few round here will have lost 3-4 t/ha this year due to bydv.
I got lucky and the insecticide I applied did seem to hit the peak infection timing, any later(and most were due to wet weather) and it was fairly horrific.
I doubt many will take the £45/ha for the risk, indeed I expect most will apply more insecticides this year, not less.

Now if only there was a magic seed dressing that negated all this spraying................

 

[Woody j]

I think there is a lot of luck when you apply the insecticide last year I got half the wheat sprayed and still had Bydv in the sprayed and non sprayed fields

 

[robs1]

Well seeing as it's claimed insecticides don't kill many target species now I can't see the point in using them,

 

[DrWazzock]

You can avoid that by spraying and claiming the payment.
How is this being policed?

I imagine that’s what will happen unless inspectors, sorry visitors, take a fine tooth comb to purchase records or search Chem suppliers sales records.
All seems a bit unnecessary to me. I won’t be opting for no insecticides but I’ll avoid using them as far as possible.
Generally the tighter standards and tests become, and the more pointless they appear, the more liars and criminals you create.
The other day I had a warning of a £100 fine if I did not declare an uninsured vehicle to be SORN. I’d become a criminal even though I’d “done” no wrong.

 

[Brisel]

Just claim for the crops in your rotation that you would be least likely to treat, e.g spring barley, late sown wheat after roots, second wheat, maize, temporary grass etc.

 

[e3120]

Just claim for the crops in your rotation that you would be least likely to treat, e.g spring barley, late sown wheat after roots, second wheat, maize, temporary grass etc.

Nothing for temporary grass. There was no truth in the statement that existing positive practices wouldn't be penalised.

One could think that there was an anti-livestock agenda in defra.

 

[Gong Farmer]

Not used any since 2012 so going to claim it, no doubt one season it will bite me but I think we should avoid them if possible, doesn't do our image a lot of good.

Indeed, one season will catch you out but it will be one in 6/8/10.

Insecticide-free cropping is on the increase so, never mind payments, there should be some useful PR about it?

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

The problem with insecticides is that they kill everything, aphids, predators and all. The predators take longer to rebuild numbers.

You get into a cycle of dependency.

Redigo deter was very effective at killing carabid beetles because they tried to eat the slugs full of neonicotinoids from eating treated seed.

 

[Brisel]

The problem with insecticides is that they kill everything, aphids, predators and all. The predators take longer to rebuild numbers.

You get into a cycle of dependency.

Redigo deter was very effective at killing carabid beetles because they tried to eat the slugs full of neonicotinoids from eating treated seed.

The problem is the time lag between the pest numbers increasing and the predators increasing to eat them. That time lag is when the crop damage is done, especially with swarms eg. CSFB and autumn aphids.

 

[Brisel]

Nothing for temporary grass. There was no truth in the statement that existing positive practices wouldn't be penalised.

One could think that there was an anti-livestock agenda in defra.

As in TG1 is ineligible for the payment?

 

[e3120]

As in TG1 is ineligible for the payment?

As I read it. The sneeky wording says arable (& 'permanent') crops, not land.

 

[robs1]

As I read it. The sneeky wording says arable (& 'permanent') crops, not land.

Is grass seed an arable crop ?

 

[e3120]

Is grass seed an arable crop ?

I like your thinking. Have to be pretty unlucky with inspection date to tell the difference if silaging. Grazing might need a more imaginative tale.