The Soil Association has responded to the Government’s authorisation for sugar beet farmers to use one type of bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticide.
Soil Association Head of Farming Policy Gareth Morgan said: “The government appears to have abandoned their own commitment to protect our pollinators and ignored scientific evidence. These pesticides are rightly banned in the EU and were banned here in the UK due to the harm they are proven to cause to bees – and the threat that poses to all our futures. These toxic chemicals simply have no place in sustainable farming, and agrochemical companies should not be manufacturing them or exporting them.
“Since ‘emergency’ exemption was granted last year, what has been done to find alternative solutions? How many years will bans of these harmful chemicals be overridden? It is critical that we move forward and urgently support farmers to find a long-term, sustainable solution that does not threaten our endangered bee population and other wildlife. We must stop simply reaching for another toxic solution.”