FINAL SAY Fen Tiger


Chemical cocktail? I’ll drink to that


Consumers are wary about pesticide residues in food – yet sprays have never been more tightly controlled, says Fen Tiger


growers and livestock producers are coming under pressure from all angles. Pop down to your local super- market and – if you feel the need – count the number of calories, fat, sugar and salt levels. Food is ap- parently bad for us. In fact, some foods have been treated with a complex mixture of pesticides – with some residues left on the pro- duce we buy.


W


Accusations like this are old news – based on four decades of offi cial data. But does it real- ly impact on human health? Yes, farmers do use pesticides. But any residues are usually minimal and


e are all living longer and supposedly health- ier too – yet British


certainly well within safety limits. Critics like to suggest that UK agriculture looks less and less like farming and more like a second- ary school chemistry lesson. But does it really? People might be unaware of the different chem- icals used on British farms, but that doesn’t mean anything un- toward is happening.


Precision farming Unsurprisingly, the farming in- dustry has been swift to answer. In recent years, the amount of pes- ticides has declined. Advanced technology and precision farming techniques mean applications are more accurate – so less chemical is needed.


When food hits the super- market shelves, it is safe to eat. It might contain traces of residues but these are well below the max- imum residue level set by current law. As for chemical cocktails, we are all exposed to numerous nat- ural and manmade chemicals every day. For the average consumer, these facts are often diffi cult to compute. Householders may be


concerned with the chemicals used to treat food – yet they will- ingly use chemical cleaning prod- ucts on the work surfaces where that food is prepared.


Slug pellets are used on most farms according to guidelines far stricter than anything adhered to by the average suburban garden- er. And I’ll wager that the environ- mental impact of slug pellets used in agriculture is far less than the impact of pellets used by amateur gardeners.


Wider benefits It’s a similar situation with glyphosate. Again, it is a vital chemical used on many farms – used at application rates far lower than those used in gardens up and down the land. It has wider ben- efi ts too, reducing the amount of ploughing needed to control weeds like blackgrass. Follow the season to harvest and an array of broad leaved her- bicides, fungicides and nitrogen and sulphur fertilisers are applied to crops. Perhaps it is not surpris- ing that wheat grown in the ear- ly 1970s was treated with 1.7 ac- tive ingredients compared to 20.7 in 2014.


Modern varieties need these in- puts to maximise both yield and quality. True, sometimes sprays are applied as an insurance out of fear of failure but again crop mar-


gins are so tight that no grower is going to apply more than is abso- lutely necessary.


Our food standards are high


and stringent rules mean records kept by individual farmers and spray operators are many. But do the public have access to them? No non-farming person has ever asked to see my records – and even if they did I suspect my answer would be no.


Just an insurance? Have I something to hide? No I haven’t. But I do admit to feeling a little uneasy about the amount of chemical used and the justifi - cation. Of course, reasons are al- ways given but are they always properly justifi ed or are they just an insurance?


But I do think that if chemi- cals are applied carefully and safe- ly, then information about their use should be more easily avail- able. From eating carrots pulled straight from the fi eld to chewing wheat from the combine tank, I be- lieve the food we produce is safe to eat.


Hopefully, life will give me many more years yet. If it does not, then I am sure that the food I eat will not be responsible for my early demise. Luckily my weight has always been looked after. As for my diet, I think its well bal- anced and safe. We could ban chemicals alto- gether or all go organic farming. We could let people go hungry al- together. Let’s see then whether people start to worry about resi- dues and active ingredients. Af- ter all, it is easy to complain when your stomach is full.


“People complain about pesticides yet willingly use chemical cleaning products on work surfaces where food is prepared.”


74 ANGLIA FARMER • MARCH 2018


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