The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is reminding farmers and growers that they have until the end of March to complete their Crop Protection Management Plan (CPMP) as it battles to avoid regulation and get behind The Voluntary Initiative.

NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said it was vital that farmers and growers show their support for the initiative, with DEFRA currently consulting on how to implement the Sustainable Use Directive and assessing the voluntary approach as opposed to regulation.

Raymond said: “We need to be able to show that existing voluntary measures, like those promoted by The Voluntary Initiative, are being widely supported. The VI has targets to meet, agreed with government, and failure to fulfil these could cause problems in the future. I urge all farmers who haven’t completed a CPMP to fill one in and return the summary sheet to the NFU before the end of March.

“The CPMP remains a very effective tool to look at how you use pesticides on your farm - especially as the Water Framework Directive is in its implementation phase and the first River Basin Management Plans have now been published. Please also remember that if you included the CPMP as a point scoring option in your existing ELS scheme, the CPMP must be completed each year.”

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