British Sugar to treat beet seeds with previously banned pesticide amid virus spread

08 Mar 2024 --- The new 2024 Rothamsted Virus Yellows forecast predicts a UK-wide Virus Yellows infection affecting sugar beet crops at an incidence of 83%, which is above the threshold identified by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). This means farmers are now authorized to treat crops with neonicotinoids, which were banned previously in the UK and currently in the EU.

“The independent Rothamsted Virus Yellows model has triggered the need to use the neonicotinoid seed coating, Cruiser SB, to protect the UK sugar beet crop for this season,” Dan Green, agriculture director at British Sugar, tells Food Ingredients First. “This year’s forecast for Virus Yellows infection is historically high and exceeds the threshold of 65% to use the seed treatment, as set by Defra in January.”

Neonicotinoids harm bees and other pollinators’ ability to navigate and reproduce.

Neonicotinoids harm bees and other pollinators’ ability to navigate and reproduce.

“Repeated authorization of a banned pesticide demonstrates the UK’s Government’s short-sightedness and lack of regard for nature and for farmers,” Barnaby Coupe, land use policy manager at UK environmental NGO The Wildlife Trusts, tells us. “Instead of normalizing the use of bee-killing chemicals, we want to see British Sugar support farmers who choose not to use neonics.”

Responding to the new virus forecast, Michael Sly, board chair of NFU Sugar, part of the NFU, representation body for agriculture and horticulture in England and Wales, comments: “The emergency authorization granted by the government for growers to use the neonicotinoid seed treatment in a safe, limited and controlled way gives them a crucial tool to help manage the aphids which spread the disease and can decimate crops.”

Impact on bee populations
Neonicotinoids, an ingredient found in Cruiser SB, are known to harm bees and other pollinators’ ability to navigate and reproduce.

“There shouldn’t have to be a choice between pesticides and pollinators, but this is increasingly a conflict which food producers around the UK are being forced into,” the Wildlife Trusts’ Coupe comments.

“Sugar beet is not a flowering crop, meaning pollinators aren’t attracted to the crop,” a spokesperson for NFU Sugar, tells Food Ingredients First.

However, according to the 2023 UK Expert Committee on Pesticides: “Based on the information currently available, it is considered that the potential adverse effects to honeybees and other pollinators cannot be excluded to a satisfactory level if an authorization were to be granted and this outweighs any likely benefits.”

The need for a transition 
The NFU Sugar and British Sugar both argue that neonicotinoids are necessary for British farmers whose livelihoods depend on sugar beet yields. British Sugar, however, acknowledges the need for farmers to transition away from the use of neonicotinoids, as suggested by the Wildlife Trusts.

“In recent years, Virus Yellows disease caused up to 80% yield loss in the UK sugar beet crop, an industry that safeguards more than 9,500 jobs, so growers will be very relieved to have the option to use this treatment,” states NFU Sugar’s Sly. 

British Sugar’s Green similarly argues: “Use of the seed treatment is necessary to protect the UK sugar beet crop and farmer livelihoods from the very high Virus Yellows forecast for 2024.”

“However, we are acutely aware of the need to safeguard the environment, so the emergency authorization contains strict controls to protect wildlife. This includes restrictions on flowering crops being planted in the same field following seed-treated sugar beet, and growers must follow a stewardship program to ensure that the conditions of the emergency authorization are met.”

The Wildlife Trusts’ Coupe adds: “More growers than ever are trying to farm in a way that does not harm nature or rivers, but they need more support to transition away from practices that put these public goods at risk.” 

British Sugar and NFU Sugar are adamant that the UK sugar industry is working to find viable long-term solutions to crop diseases that do not involve using neonicotinoids.“Last year, 40% of sugar beet growers chose not to use the chemicals even though they were authorized for use, showing the huge demand for farming without these banned pesticides. Our ‘Say No to Neonics’ petition is asking the industry to better support these farmers, and you can add your voice too.” 

Alternative solutions
British Sugar and NFU Sugar are adamant that the UK sugar industry is working to find viable long-term solutions to crop diseases that do not involve using neonicotinoids.

“The British beet sugar industry continues to invest in finding alternative solutions to protect the crop through our Virus Yellows Pathway. Alongside NFU Sugar and the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO), we are looking at numerous avenues including traditional seed breeding programs and precision breeding through gene-editing as a long-term solution to tackle this disease,” asserts Green.

“As part of this work, this winter, BBRO has held several events to promote integrated pest management (IPM) and other on-farm practices to bolster crop resilience and support growers in managing Virus Yellows.”

He touts that the team is working on finding gene-editing solutions to the crop disease: “We are delighted to have recently won over £660,000 (US$ 847,000) in grant funding from the Government’s InnovateUK Farming Futures R&D fund, to further develop a precision breeding pathway for Virus Yellows resistance in sugar beet.”

“Working with agricultural biotechnology company Tropic and the world-leading plant science institute the John Innes Centre, the project will use gene-editing induced gene -silencing technology to redirect sugar beet’s own natural defense mechanisms toward enabling natural resistance to Virus Yellows.”

“We’re optimistic about the results of this work over the coming years,” Green concludes. 

By Milana Nikolova