Implementing the Sustainable Use Directive – The UK's Voluntary Initiative. (1st April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lamb, Rebecca
• Is Part Of: Outlooks on pest management. Volume 27:Number 2(2016:Mar./Apr.)
• Page Start: 70
• Page End: 72
• Publication Date: 2016-04-01
• Subjects: Pesticides -- Periodicals; Pesticides -- Application -- Periodicals; 632.905
• DOI: 10.1564/v27_apr_05
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-1034

Abstract

As EU member state governments come to terms with the requirements of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive 2009/128/EC it is business as usual for The Voluntary Initiative (VI); an industry funded and led campaign to reduce the environmental impacts of pesticide use and reduce the burden of unnecessary regulation. Formed in 2001, we are playing a leading role in the implementation of the UK government's national action plan1 for the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD), the individual elements of which many British farmers were already achieving voluntarily through measures such as continued professional development (CPD) and regularly testing and maintaining their equipment. Key to the success of any voluntary approach over regulation, is close working with government and delivery through trusted partners. The trade associations2 behind the VI include the farming unions, contractors and agronomists' associations, and plant protection product manufacturers, distributors and machinery engineers, ensuring that consistent messages reach those responsible for pesticide decisions and applications from sources they trust. These organisations came together, contributing time and resource, to the stewardship of plant protection products as a more effective way of addressing environment concerns than regulation. At the time of the formation of the VI, the British government was considering a pesticides tax, which would have had a detrimental effect on the profitability and competitiveness of individual farms and could have resulted in serious consequences for the nation's food security and food safety. Independent chairman Richard Butler, a dairy and arable farmer, leads the VI and acts as spokesperson; championing its messages to the agricultural community. The VI's environmental priorities are to protect water quality and biodiversity. The European Drinking Water Directive, transposed into UK law as the Drinking Water Quality Regulations, set a standard of 0.1μg/l (microgram) maximum concentration for individual pesticides and 0.5 μg/l for total pesticides in drinking water irrespective of toxicity. Water companies have a responsibility to monitor pesticides in treated water in order to demonstrate compliance with this standard. We work closely with Water UK, the trade association for the water companies, to help meet these stringent targets. In the UK, we have particular challenges with herbicides used on oil seed rape and grasslands and metaldehyde, for slug control. Back in 2001, our original objectives were focused around operator competency, crop management, sprayer testing and agronomists' environmental awareness. More recently acting as part of the delivery mechanism for the SUD has been a large focus of our work. The VI is heavily involved in 3 elements of the UK's action plan affecting farmers and sprayer operators, all of which can be seen as progressions of our original objectives: The need to demonstrate that integrated pest management is being followed on farm; Sprayer operators must hold a recognised certificate of competence; and Working pesticide application equipment must hold a test certificate (from November 2016).