Massive future costs to the Horticultural Development Council for the highly valuable research programme for off-label use can be expected when ornamentals have to be registered in the future. This will add to the increase in charges to existing edible SOLAs which came into force on March 1.

What has further angered industry leaders is that a number of countries receive assistance with their registration costs. Germany for example receives €8 million for funding its trials, while a further 13 research stations in the EU also receive funding to some degree.

Also, the US government funded about $34 million for their research costs a year. Canada and Australia are developing their own minor use programmes, while the UK is still persisting that its own horticultural industry though the HDC has to take up the full cost. “We are extremely disappointed that the Pesticide Safety Directorate has chosen to implement these increases in SOLA costs, and over a six year period they will have a significant effect on HDC funds for research,” HDC chairman Colin Harvey told Commercial Grower. “What is also regrettable is that this occurs at a time when Defra funding for agricultural and horticultural research is in the process of being reduced by 25 percent over a two year period.”

“Much of what we are doing within the SOLA programme is about finding environmentally acceptable crop protection chemicals and associated crop management programmes based on new innovative chemistry. It is a great pity that the government does not support this initiative directly as other member states in Europe and the USA do,” he said.

According to the HDC, there are between 100-120 SOLA registration applications submitted each year at a cost of £480 each.

The latest increase has risen to £675 for each application with further increases of £205 annually for the next six years. For 120 registration applications, would mean an added cost to HDC of £195 per application or a total of £23,400 for the 120 applications.

These numbers were likely to increase in the next few years to address re-registration of SOLAs for calculating the active ingredients to achieve the EC Annexe 1 listing.

But the inclusion of ornamentals, to be registered in line with all horticultural crops, will cause the greatest upset in cost. Up until now ornamentals could use any labelled chemical for agricultural use.

“But because these crops were not eaten, there was no effect on human health and therefore no need to come under the edibles SOLA programme, but now they are going to have to be registered,” said an HDC spokesperson. “It could amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds when it starts up.”

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