George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has considered an application from the National Farmers Union and British Sugar for emergency authorisation to use the product Cruiser SB on sugar beet crops in 2022. The seed treatment can protect the crop from Yellows Virus carried by aphids.

The Secretary of State considered the application in line with the relevant legal requirements for plant protection products and has decided that emergency authorisation should be granted subject to a number of conditions, more stringent than those set in 2021.  

Emergency authorisation is established by Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009 as retained in UK law.

This allows the short-term emergency authorisation of plant protection product uses that are not otherwise permitted, providing that, on the facts of the particular case, all of the following tests are met:

• there must be special circumstances which make it appropriate to derogate from the standard approach to authorisations
• there must be a danger
• the danger must not be capable of being contained by any other reasonable means
• an emergency authorisation must appear necessary because of that danger
• an emergency authorisation may allow only limited and controlled use of the plant protection product

George Eustice agreed that these requirements were met and considered sugar beet to be an economically important domestic crop. For over 25 years, YV was effectively controlled by neonicotinoid seed treatments, with only occasional need for supplementary pesticide sprays.

Since the seed treatments ceased to be used in 2018 (when use of the active substance thiamethoxam was restricted to indoor use), YV was a minor problem in 2019 and 2021 but in 2020 25% of the national crop was lost despite the use of foliar sprays.

Many individual growers suffered even heavier losses. Estimated losses to growers in 2020 from YV were approximately £43 million and subsequent losses to the processor a further £24 million. At a virus incidence of more than 7%, the sugar beet industry as a whole would suffer economically without seed treatment.

Defra economists advised that the spatial distribution of virus levels is likely to be uneven meaning losses to some growers could be much higher than the predicted average.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the decision was "based on robust scientific assessment".

The Secretary of State also noted that UK sugar beet production had declined and that crop losses may result in further growers turning their back on the crop. Virus levels remain high and there is a continued build up in background aphid populations.

Use of Cruiser SB would also provide confidence to growers that a repeat of the problems of 2020 is less likely and would thus help to stem a decline in sugar beet production

Requirements

George Eustice said product use would be "limited and controlled".

Use is only permitted if the predicted virus incidence level is 19% or above, as determined on 1 March 2022 by the Rothamsted YV forecast model.

If the virus threshold is not met then the neonicotinoid treated seed will not be used – as was the case at the start of 2021 when this step was last taken.

Risks to bees will be minimised by measures including:

• limitations on the amount of seed treatment applied and on the sowing density of the crop
• a ban on planting flowering crops within 32 months of the treated sugar beet
• and a requirement for the control of weeds in the crop