Update (2nd March 2023) – disappointingly, the Virus Yellows forecast for 2023, published by Rothamsted Research, estimates that virus yellow incidence in sugar beet crops will be 67.51% which is above the 63% threshold. This was a condition which had to be met to trigger the use of the banned pesticide on sugar beet in 2023, as per the UK Government’s decision earlier in the year. Read on for the full story and what this means for bumblebees and nature.
Yesterday (23rd Jan 2023), the UK Government announced it had once again decided to ignore expert advice and allow the use of an insecticide, currently banned for its toxic effects on bees, on sugar beet crops in the East of England. It is a decision that was made against the advice from the government’s Expert Committee on Pesticides and the Health and Safety Executive, who were both “unable to support an emergency authorisation under Article 53 of Regulation 1107/2009, as potential adverse effects to honeybees and other pollinators outweigh the likely benefits.”
This is the third year in a row that the government has given the green light to using the banned substance, thiamethoxam, on our fields, though in 2021, predictions of pest levels did not meet the required threshold to trigger the pesticide to be used. Last year, however, pest numbers were predicted to be higher and seed-treated sugar beet was allowed to be grown. We released a statement in response to the news last year, which details how the decision affects bumblebees. We are republishing a revised version of some of the key points for 2023’s decision here:
In this particular case the potential harm to bumblebees is reduced as sugar beet is a non-flowering crop, so pollinators will not be drawn to it to feed, and the insecticide is applied as a seed dressing (rather than an in-field treatment such as a spray).
Risks to bumblebees in this case are through the leaching of the active ingredient from the crop into wildflowers in and around the field margins, and in crops and other plant species grown in the same areas in future years. We are pleased to see some safeguards built into the derogation to combat these risks to pollinators, in particular:
- Sowing treated sugar beet seed only permitted if forecast aphid abundance in the crop is high enough to cause significant difficulties for growers (aphids are vectors for the three beet yellows viruses).
- An increased threshold of aphid incidence in the crop before use of the treated seed is permitted, from a projected 19% (based on the 2022 application), to 63% for 2023. We will learn on 1st March whether or not that threshold is predicted to have been met.
- A 32-month ban of growing flowering crops in fields where treated sugar beet have been grown, increased from 22 months in the 2021 derogation.
- A ban on further use of thiamethoxam-treated sugar beet seed in the same fields for 46 months. Importantly, this means none of the fields treated last year will be treated again in 2023.
- New for 2023 – compliance with a stewardship scheme including a number of requirements for monitoring levels of neonicotinoids in the environment.
A further safeguard – the strict observance of herbicide programs to remove weeds from crop fields – will mean that bumblebees and other pollinators will be less exposed to insecticides in their food. However, it does have the potentially greater impact of further removing flowers from these areas, particularly if it reduces the area of pollen and nectar margins planted through agri-environment schemes. This will increase the pressure on pollinators, which already struggle to find food in our impoverished agricultural landscapes.
We are particularly concerned to see annual requests for the use of banned pesticides, with little progress made on resistant varieties. A partially virus-tolerant variety is now available, however the varieties which produce the greatest yields are often prioritised. We are apprehensive that the long-term solution, according to Defra’s Chief Scientific Advisor, is waiting five years until pest-resistant gene-edited sugar beet is available. We need committed action, strong regulation and well-funded incentives to transform our farming practices so that they can be truly sustainable and help tackle the nature and climate crises we face.
Like last year, we are also troubled to see no mention of how the processor, British Sugar, will deal with the contaminated soil. This is currently washed from the sugar beet, collected, and sold nationwide as topsoil. As a condition of the derogation, flowering plants cannot be grown for 32 months in the soil from fields where the treated sugar beet have been planted: this must be enforced even if the soil itself has been moved.
Beyond pollinators, neonicotinoids are well-known for their environmental mobility and can cause harm to other animals (such as invertebrates within the soil) and aquatic life in nearby watercourses, both of which are likely to be more at risk than bees in this particular case. In particular, it is likely that thiamethoxam levels in some boundary watercourses will exceed permitted levels under the Water Framework Directive.
Perhaps most worryingly, the decision to allow neonicotinoids to be used again in England comes a week after the Court of Justice for the European Union made a ruling which effectively stopped any further applications for emergency use of banned neonicotinoids across the EU. Like in the UK, derogations from the ban had become an annual standard process in some European countries, rather than an emergency one. It therefore appears that pesticide policy in the UK is now diverging from the European Union for the worse, with economic benefits of using pesticides (even for sugar, a food linked to severe human health consequences) outweighing potential harm to nature and the environment. If the Retained EU Law Bill makes its way through Parliament, many of the laws and regulations that currently keep toxic pesticides out of our fields are set to be reviewed and possibly removed by Ministers altogether, meaning we could yet see a further slide into increased harmful practices.
For further information on the impact of pesticide use on bumblebees and our key recommendations see our recent pesticide position statement. If you are concerned about this decision, you can write to your MP and share links to this statement.
