Emergency use of insecticide will be 'too late'

The approval was eventually granted for 120 days on Friday 26 September following the completion of technical evaluations.

NFU vice president Guy Smith said: “We have pushed hard for this approval over the last few weeks and while we are pleased to see it finally come through, we are frustrated by the time it has taken.

“For many farmers currently trying to combat the flea beetle menace, this approval will give them a new vital tool in their tool box when it comes to establishing good crops of oilseed rape. But for those who have already seen their crops significantly compromised by flea beetle, the response is bound to be, ‘if only we had had these products sooner’.

“The challenge of growing oilseed rape this autumn without a key crop protection tool demonstrates well the points we have raised in our Healthy Harvest campaign. Farmers need crop protection materials to grow healthy crops, benefitting our economy and for our bio-diversity.

“We need regulators to properly understand the impacts their decisions can have on the ability of farmers to produce a reliable supply of affordable, healthy, food to meet a growing demand.”

The second most planted crop in England, oilseed rape is an extremely important crop for pollinators including bees, providing an abundant, early supply of nectar and pollen. These bees are in turn valuable to rapeseed growers and essential to other farmers in helping pollinate their crops.

The NFU is also aware that an extension of use for the Bayer product Biscaya has also been approved. This extension will relieve pressure on farmers to control aphids and the destructive Turnips Yellow virus that they spread, in the absence of control by neonicotinoid seed treatments.