Following a recent survey of pesticide residues by the Pesticide Safety Directorate, environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth publicly congratulated UK carrot growers for producing residue free crops.
It is the stated mission of British Carrot Growers’ Association (BCGA) to work towards pesticide-free crop production whilst maintaining a robust crop protection strategy for grower use.
At the last meeting of the BCGA research and development committee, members recognised the need to attract the attention of all involved in the carrot and parsnip industry to the loss of several crop-protection chemicals post 2007.
Loss of control agents for nematodes and some weeds, most notably volunteer potatoes, will put crops at risk, said the association. The BCGA is working with the Horticultural Development Council to find alternative crop-protection strategies. Work already planned includes:
• Nematodes: trials are planned for 2004 to test alternative crop-protection materials, some natural and some synthetic. Along side chemical control will be various cultivation techniques to improve control by non-chemical methods.
• Weed Control: a screening trial is planned for 2004 to test the crop safety (carrot and parsnip) of the many new herbicides approved for arable crops.
• BCGA variety demonstration and trade exhibition: is planned for October 5 2004 and the results of the nematode and weed control trials will be discussed with growers.
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