The pesticide industry has hit back against the proposed EU pest control directive with a three-pronged attack on blights to UK-grown crops.
Representatives from Bayer CropScience, Exosect and Certis - three of the UK’s largest crop protection researchers - addressed the Leipzig Under 40s conference and shared a number of methods to banish problems such as codling moth, which poses one of the biggest challenges for top-fruit crops worldwide.
Exosect can counter the problem with its technique for mating disruption, Exosex. Richard Dyason, agronomy and crop protection expert at the company, said: “The best thing is that the powder is naturally occurring, solvent- and propellant-free, so very safe to use. It only needs replacing twice a season in the UK and demand has been high so far.”
Certis focused on its product CyD-X, alongside synthetic mating disruption, to spread a virus to attack codling moth, as well as Floramite, which attacks spiders and mites in strawberries, to control them from egg to adult.
Bayer CropScience set out details of its products to fight codling moth and pear sucker, as well as its Teldor spray against raspberry detritus and silver leaf. Account manager Peter Newman, pictured, claimed the company is “the number one in the UK pesticide market - there is so much new chemistry coming through”.
The crop protection seminar also featured a presentation by Paul Bennett of fruit consultancy service Agrovista, who urged UK growers to adopt its service to monitor weather conditions and give technical advice through interactive software and a text alert service.
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