Agriculture: Weedkillers

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 27 June 2019.

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Photo of Paul Farrelly Paul Farrelly Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing more support for farmers to control weeds without using synthetic herbicides.

Photo of Robert Goodwill Robert Goodwill The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Effective weed control is key to successful crop production and grassland management. Herbicides are one means of controlling weeds but there are a number of other tools including variety selection, crop rotation and cultivation techniques. Regulation of herbicides is rigorous and they are not authorised for use if they may harm health or risk unacceptable impacts on the environment.

The 25 Year Environment Plan states the Government’s intention to put Integrated Pest Management (IPM) at the heart of its approach. IPM aims to design farming systems so as to minimise the need for pesticides, including herbicides, and to make the greatest possible use of alternative approaches. We will develop and implement policies that encourage and support this approach, building on existing work to research and promote new techniques and products that provide alternatives to chemical pesticides. Where these practices are shown to deliver environmental outcomes, farmers who adopt them will be well placed to benefit from a future Environmental Land Management system.

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