Why is herbicide/ pesticide use under threat?
The contamination of water with agrochemicals and in particular, herbicides means that unless these sprays are used more responsibly their use will be severely restricted or withdrawn. Just because livestock farmers tend to use less sprays than arable farmers it doesn’t mean they should not be concerned, valuable weed control tools could be lost with negative impacts on crop yields and quality. The main threats to the availability of herbicides and pesticides are the revision of Directive 91/414/EEC and Annex 1 approval (EU legislation associated with product safety) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) aiming to improve water quality. Increased cost of grass and forage production could occur with worst case scenario losses including: • Use of non-clover safe herbicides could result in a loss of white clover from grass leys, costing an extra £180/ ha to compensate for the lost nitrogen. • If red clover swards are sprayed with non-clover safe herbicides, loss of yield could cost up t
