Ban on bee-harming insecticide adds to struggling sugar beet farmers’ woes

Spraying sugar beet
Spraying the sugar beet with Cruiser SB is the only way of stopping disease - Nigel Cattlin/Alamy

It has been a bad few months for British farmers.

Already struggling with soaring production costs, extreme weather and a punishing inheritance tax grab, they have a new problem: uncontrollable pests.

This week, the Government refused an emergency application for the use of the neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB on sugar beet – a crop which has been beset with virus yellows, a disease transmitted by aphids.

The virus turns the leaves yellow, thick and brittle, and can cause crop losses of up to 80 per cent. It is the biggest current threat to the UK’s sugar sector.

Treating the seeds with Cruiser SB is the only way of stopping the disease and although neonicotinoids are banned in Britain, there has been a rolling exception for sugar beet because there is no alternative.

Sugar beet
Virus yellows, a disease transmitted by aphids, can cause crop losses of up to 80pc - Nickbeer

Now the exemption has been cancelled to save the bees, leaving farmers at a loss as to how to protect their crops.

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Michael Sly, the National Farmers’ Union sugar board chairman, warned: “As a result of not having this emergency application granted, growers will not have a single viable solution to protect their crop in 2025 in the event of severe disease pressure.”

It is the first time in five years that an emergency authorisation of Cruiser SB has not been approved for use on sugar beet.

Toby Bruce, a professor of insect chemical ecology at Keele University, said: “What are farmers supposed to do to protect their crops?

“The situation was previously considered an emergency because farmers are left with no control measures and have no way of protecting their crops from insect pests and the serious crop diseases that they transmit.”

Bees
Bees are an important pollinator and are at risk of harm from pesticides

The problem with neonicotinoid pesticides, such as Cruiser SB, is that they kill indiscriminately, harming important pollinators, like bees, butterflies and moths. They can even be toxic to earthworms, beetles and birds.

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Announcing the withdrawal of the emergency exemption, Emma Hardy, an environment minister, warned that Britain was “one of the most nature depleted countries in the world” and said that wildlife must be protected from pesticides.

The Government said there was “clear and abundant evidence” that neonicotinoids were toxic to pollinators.

Studies have shown that even minuscule levels of neonicotinoid pesticides can cause cognitive problems in pollinators, harming their foraging abilities and damaging their fertility, leading to population crashes.

Dave Goulson, professor of biology at the University of Sussex, said: “There is overwhelming evidence that neonicotinoids harm bees and other wildlife, and contaminate soils, waterways and wildflowers. There is no safe way to use them.”

But farmers argue that the case of sugar beet is different from other crops. The plant is harvested before it can produce flowers and so it does not attract pollinators.

Sugar beet harvesting
Sugar beet farmers now have no way of protecting crops from insect pests - Mike Powles/Stone RF

Dr Scott Hayward, a senior lecturer in biosciences at the University of Birmingham, agreed, but said that the pesticide continues to pollute the local environment.

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He explained: “Sugar beet is somewhat of a special case because it doesn’t produce flowers until year two of growth, so the concerns that neonics are transferred to the pollen and or nectar of the plant via seed coating is less of an issue than for other crops.

“However, even seed coating leaves neonic residues in the environment.”

Cruiser SB contains the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam which can remain in the soil for around a year.

Neonicotinoids work by binding to receptors in an insect’s nervous system, overstimulating the nerves and leading to paralysis and eventual death.

Alternative measures

Dr Hayward added: “The simple fact is that pesticides targeting fundamental biological functions in pest species will likely have the same (sometimes greater) effects in non-target species.”

For now, bees have triumphed over beets, but there may yet be a solution that will keep everyone happy.

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A cross-industry virus yellows task force has been set up to research alternative measures and several intriguing trials are showing promise.

Researchers are testing using camouflage such as dyes to blur the colour distinction between plant and soil, so aphids cannot see the crops. Aroma pellets are also being developed to deter aphids through scent.

Tropic, an agriculture biotechnology company, is working with British Sugar to explore how to genetically edit sugar beet to confer resistance to virus yellows and it is hoped resistant crops will be available by the end of the decade.

The future looks hopeful, but for now all sugar beet farmers can do is keep their fingers crossed and hope for chilly weather to keep aphids at bay. It could be a long winter.