Neonicotinoid insecticide ban leaves UK canola farmers with few tools to stop flea beetle resurgence

| | April 27, 2020
Neonic seed treateds in canola (right), and untreated (left) . Flea beetle damage.” Photo: Gregory Sekulic, CC BY 2.0
This article or excerpt is included in the GLP’s daily curated selection of ideologically diverse news, opinion and analysis of biotechnology innovation.

The bright yellow rapeseed flowers that adorn the British countryside have largely disappeared after crops this season failed.

The flaxen dandelion – used to make rapeseed oil – is a common sight on farmland in late spring but has suffered a downturn partly due to flea beetle larvae infestations, Farmers Weekly reported.

Farmers have struggled to control the pest after the EU banned neonicotinoid seed treatments in rapeseed crops six years ago.

A number of hectares of the crop completely failed, and any others that made it through the tough winter months then had to contend with the flea beetle – leading to a very small rapeseed crop

Related article:  Tale of two neonicotinoid bumble bee studies—And how science can be massaged

In Britain, Chloe Lockhart, combinable crops adviser with the National Farmers Union, last year said that cabbage stem flea beetle was a ‘huge concern’.

And last year they had ‘near perfect conditions for drilling and still crops are being destroyed’. She added: ‘The risk is extreme, it just gets eaten in front of your eyes.’ There may yet be an upside for UK farmers as availability of the old crop is fast disappearing.

Read the original post

Outbreak
Outbreak Daily Digest

podcasts GLP Podcasts More...
Biotech Facts & Fallacies
Talking Biotech
Genetics Unzipped

video Videos More...
stat hospitalai ink st x mod x

Meet STACI: STAT’s fascinating interactive guide to AI in healthcare

The Covid-19 pandemic underscores the importance of the technology in medicine: In the last few months, hospitals have used AI ...

bees and pollinators Bees & Pollinators More...
mag insects image superjumbo v

Disaster interrupted: Which farming system better preserves insect populations: Organic or conventional?

A three-year run of fragmentary Armageddon-like studies had primed the journalism pumps and settled the media framing about the future ...
dead bee desolate city

Are we facing an ‘Insect Apocalypse’ caused by ‘intensive, industrial’ farming and agricultural chemicals? The media say yes; Science says ‘no’

The media call it the “Insect Apocalypse”. In the past three years, the phrase has become an accepted truth of ...

infographics Infographics More...
breastfeeding bed x facebook x

Infographic: We know breastfeeding helps children. Now we know it helps mothers too

When a woman becomes pregnant, her risk of type 2 diabetes increases for the rest of her life, perhaps because ...

GMO FAQs GMO FAQs More...
biotechnology worker x

Can GMOs rescue threatened plants and crops?

Some scientists and ecologists argue that humans are in the midst of an "extinction crisis" — the sixth wave of ...
food globe x

Are GMOs necessary to feed the world?

Experts estimate that agricultural production needs to roughly double in the coming decades. How can that be achieved? ...
eating gmo corn on the cob x

Are GMOs safe?

In 2015, 15 scientists and activists issued a statement, "No Scientific consensus on GMO safety," in the journal Environmental Sciences ...
glp profiles GLP Profiles More...
Screen Shot at PM

Charles Benbrook: Agricultural economist and consultant for the organic industry and anti-biotechnology advocacy groups

Independent scientists rip Benbrook's co-authored commentary in New England Journal calling for reassessment of dangers of all GMO crops and herbicides ...
Screen Shot at PM

ETC Group: ‘Extreme’ biotechnology critic campaigns against synthetic biology and other forms of ‘extreme genetic engineering’

The ETC Group is an international environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Canada whose stated purpose is to monitor "the impact of emerging technologies and ...
report this ad report this ad report this ad

Trending

News on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.
Optional. Mail on special occasions.
Send this to a friend