2021 Autumn Seed Catalogue

42 The last five years has seen the rapid loss of many key active ingredients, in part due to the loss of agrochemicals following the continued review based on the hazard criteria brought in under EC 1107/2009 (now adopted into UK law following Brexit), and it is likely that this trend will continue as many older actives are re-evaluated (for hazard as opposed to risk), to people, wildlife and the environment. At the same time as this, pest, disease and weed resistance to actives has been increasing (often from an over-reliance on them) resulting in the further reduction of options for effective control. We have seen many crops such as oilseed rape, sugar/fodder beet and peas become increasingly difficult to grow because of the loss of some of these actives and newer crops to the UK such as Soya are equally challenging due to so few products being approved foruse. However, we are also seeing the development of new products with higher levels of environmental safety and new modes of action which if managed correctly as part of a broader cultural approach should be with us for some years to come. Fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, growth regulators, crop nutrition and increasingly bio-stimulants and bacteria will always have an important role to play but forward thinking agronomists and farmers are now using these products more strategically alongside rotation, soil management, targeted nutrition, varietal strengths and cover and companion crops to push crop yields while minimising the risks of resistance build up and at the same time focusing on environmental protection and the improvement of soil health and carbon management which in the long-term will enhance crop production and farm gross margins. The term “high input = high output” has been used frequently when it comes to crop protection, but the reality is “high attention to detail = high output” is much closer to the truth in sustainable crop production. Pearce Seeds whilst being able to provide the most advanced range of crop protection and nutrition products also have within the agronomy team a vast range of qualification and experience from product development, trials and manufacturing through to practical farm management of large scale arable, dairy and livestock farming. Our approach to crop protection involves working with farmers to achieve and wherever possible exceed their aspirations of yields and performance through the targeted use of inputs and technology while focusing on maximising the financial returns of the farm. CROP PROTECTION Crop protection for the last forty years has largely been assumed to refer to agrochemicals which have provided cost effective solutions to many of the pest and disease problems that have been associated with the intensification of food production. However, more recently agronomy has begun to rediscover some of the more traditional cultural ‘crop protection’ methods which were side-lined by agrochemicals and the term is now being redefined to cover the management of crop production as a whole.