Fertiliser and biostimulant manufacturers have criticised a delay to the release of Defra’s consultation: Creating an Enabling Regulatory Environment for Enhanced Efficiency Fertilisers, which is evaluating the UK’s regulatory approaches to biostimulants.
Defra was due to publish the consultation in August 2021, but the industry has been told that “Defra is running behind schedule, and we still do not know when the consultation documents will be issued.”
Simon Fox, MD of Emerald Research Ltd, commented, “As the industry has been given no update on when it can expect to see the proposed regulatory options, it can only hope that the delay on their side will be reflected in the length of time the industry and wider stakeholders, such as food retailers, environmental bodies and farmers, will be given to respond. The current proposed timeline cites October 2021 as the date for the end of the consultation.”
The consultation will determine how the UK will adopt proposals under the EU Fertiliser Regulation, (EC) 219/1009, which will require suppliers of biostimulants to have carried out efficacy trials to justify the claims of the effect of their biostimulants.
“The proposed timeline indicates that Defra’s ambition is to have the new regulatory framework fully implemented by September 2022, just twelve months from now. This leaves the industry very concerned that they will potentially only have one growing season in which to meet the research demands of the legislation (depending on if they are willing to accept previous trial results or not),” said Simon. “This could result in farmers and growers having little or no choice of biostimulant products in the 2023 season.”
Picture Caption: Manufacturers are worried they may not have sufficient time to generate trials data for biostimulants.