How will it be spent?
£200,000
over 3 years (approximately)
Analyse how current chemical and non-chemical control approaches can be deployed to best effect across rotations.
£100,000
Will unlock further sources of funding and provide longer-term solutions.
Following this announcement, AHDB has revealed plans to invest in a programme of slug research by combining £300,000 of levy funds with external sources of funding.
The information was published in a new review by HGCA, the total average annual cost to the UK industry from not using pesticides to control slugs in wheat and oilseed rape (OSR) alone is estimated to be £43.5 million per year.
Approximately 59 per cent of OSR grown in the UK is affected by slugs with an estimated average annual yield loss of 4 per cent of the area affected. Without pesticides, the calculated annual tonnage lost is 54,354 tonnes, costing the industry approximately £18 million per year (2.4 per cent of the total crop value).
For wheat, approximately 22 per cent of the total area is affected by slugs. The estimated average annual yield loss caused by this pest is 5 per cent of the area affected. Without pesticides, the calculated annual tonnage lost is 53,280 tonnes, costing the industry approximately £25.5 million per year (1.1 per cent of the total crop value).
Report author Miss Caroline Nicholls, HGCA Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager, said: “These figures highlight the economic importance of slug control to UK growers and can help regulators make informed choices relating to pesticide authorisations.”
The Potato Council and HDC have also published estimates of the cost of slugs. Totally uncontrolled, it’s estimated slugs would cause losses of £53 million each year across all potato sectors.
And for field vegetable production, it’s estimated that slugs already cause £8 million pounds of damage each year, therefore the true cost of not treating slugs would be significantly higher.
Recently the EU voted to revoke the use of methiocarb, the second most commonly used molluscicide in the UK.
AHDB has announced it intends to fund a suite of slug research projects to develop new methods for control.
"To maintain an acceptable level of slug control over the longer term, we need to think outside of the box.
“We hope this funding will be used to tap into the significant funding potentially available through sources such as the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform, the UK Agricultural Technologies Strategy and the UK Research Councils, such as the BBSRC.
“This funding could kick-start pioneering research to advance our knowledge of slug genomics, slug behaviour, new control techniques and novel delivery systems,” said Miss Nicholls.
Read the HGCA’s review of slug control (Research Review 79)
More info on the Potato Council’s estimates of the cost of slugs