To help further ensure the implementation of rodenticide stewardship across the industry, new requirements came into force on 1 January 2018 for farmers and growers wanting to purchase professional rodenticides. To do so, they need to show that they are either part of a compliant assurance scheme, or that they have completed an approved training course.
Eleven assurance schemes with combined memberships of 95,000 farm businesses are compliant with the UK Rodenticide Stewardship Regime. They are:
- AIC's Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops
- British Egg Industry Council's Lion code
- Duck Assurance Scheme
- Farm Assured Welsh Livestock
- Laid in Britain
- Northern Ireland Beef & Lamb Farm Quality Assurance
- Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured Cereals
- Quality British Turkey
- Quality Meat Scotland
- Red Tractor Farm Assurance
- Scottish Quality Crops
Farmers can present their assurance scheme membership document at sales outlets as proof of competence to purchase stewardship-label professional rodenticides. The audit standards of all 11 assurance schemes have been verified for compliance with stewardship conditions and the CRRU UK Code of Best Practice, which broadly require a systematic approach to rodent pest control, with documentation and regular independent audit procedures.
Sellers of professional use rodenticides to pest controllers, farmers and gamekeepers need to have registered for stewardship point-of-sale audits.
Farmers outside the approved assurance schemes have three rodenticide use options:
- Take an approved training course and show the certificate when purchasing rodenticide. You can find more details about different approved training courses and e-learning here. If it is just e-learning you are interested in, then you can find details here, where courses are available from £71.94 incl VAT.
- Employ a certified professional pest controller.
- Use rodenticide products authorised for amateur use.
The aim of the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRUU) UK is for this combination of farm assurance and point-of-sale control to help ensure the entire supply chain is correctly implementing stewardship measures. CRUU chairman Dr Alan Buckle says: "This will make a significant contribution to enabling continued access by competent users to professional use rodenticides for the future."