Government reports published in August and September, which look at pesticide use in 2014 and in previous years, show that overall usage has declined slightly in arable and field crops in recent years, but that massive increases have outstripped larger growing areas for orchard crops.  

Three reports have been produced by state research agency FERA, which cover arable and field crops, orchard crops and soft fruits.

Based on 23,000 fields from 1,000 holdings, the arable results account for 6 percent of the UK’s growers and FERA researchers said the results had been weighted by region to give an accurate picture of pesticide use in the UK.

The results show that wheat - the most widely grown crop, covering 45 percent of the area examined - accounted for 52 percent of pesticides applied by weight. In all, almost 16,000 tonnes of active ingredients were used on the UK’s arable crops in 2014.

Fungicides accounted for 40 percent of total arable crop treatments.

The arable area fell by less than 1% between 2008 and 2014 (though researchers said the area of crops grown shrank by 1% since 2012), but pesticide use in arable crops has fallen by 16 percent over the period. For the most part, researchers put this down to a significant reduction in the use of sulphuric acid as a desiccant on potatoes.

In fact, though FERA figures show that the use of herbicides and desiccants fell by around 2,000 tonnes between 2008 and 2010, use has steadily increased by around  500 tonnes every two years since.

There have also been increases in the use of certain actives - including glyphosate  (which was up 29% by  area  treated  and  32%  by  weight  applied) - which could give rise to some concerns, given the attention being paid to potential health impacts in recent months.

Last year, Prothioconazole (found in Bayer’s Siltra and Fandango formulations) was the most widely used fungicide and glyphosate the most widely used herbicide, with 1,800 tonnes of active substance being applied in the 2013-14 growing season. The pyrethroid class of insecticides was the most commonly used, accounting for 93 percent of all insecticide applications.

Though metaldehyde pellets accounted for the vast majority of molluscicide treatments, and the area treated increased by 36 percent, applications only increased 4 percent by weight, which FERA researchers said indicates a trend for lower application rates. Even so, the continued contamination of drinking waters with metaldehyde has led water companies to take action to try and tackle pollution.

Orchards and soft fruit

For orchard crops, a sample of 283 holdings, accounting for 35 percent of the total area, revealed that

Again, fungicides were the most widely used treatments, with captan the most common amongst these, being applied over 81,000 hectares. chlorpyrifos was the most commonly used insecticide, used on 24,000ha of crops.

Between 2012 and 2014, the area of orchard crops in the UK increased by 4 percent, but pesticide use remained about the same. However, FERA results show that, since 2008, despite only a small increase in the area of orchard crops, pesticide usage rocketed by 33 percent (in terms of both area and weight applied), with insecticides leading the rise. FERA authors put this down to the larger area of dessert apples, which are relatively intensively treated, and more intensive use of chemistry on cherries and cider apple crops.

The study of soft fruit crops looked at 336 holdings, representing 39 percent of the UK soft fruit area. The soft fruit area has increased by 10% since 2001 and by 3% since 2012, with strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberries and grapevines leading the rise.

Despite only a 10 percent increase in area, pesticide treatments on soft fruits in the UK have soared in recent years, with a 77 percent increase in the treated area since 2001. Between 2012 and 2014 (during which time the cropping area fell back by 3 percent) there was a 10 percent increase in the area treated.

Though there has been a large increase in the treated area, there have been significant overall reductions in the weight of pesticides applied; applications have decreased  by  22%  since  2001  and by 26% since 2012, largely due to a massive reduction in the use of soil sterilants. The overall figures disguise some radical changes in pesticide applications over the period; though there has been a continued decline in the use of herbicides and only a moderate rise in insecticide use, use of fungicides and sulphur have increased dramatically since 2001.

In soft fruit growing, fungicides again accounted for most actives applied and strawberries were the most treated crop.

More information on the results is available from FERA here (arable), here (orchard) and here (soft fruit).