Relevant Matter
Public policy or programme
Public Policy Area
Agriculture
Period
1 May, 2024 to 31 Aug, 2024
Specific Details
Emergency Authorisation for Herbicide
Intended results
To request an emergency authorisation for use of the herbicide Debut (active ingredient triflusulfuron-methyl) for use in fodder and sugar beet crops in Spring 2025. The existing label registration for Debut expired on 20th May 2024 with use-up date of August 20th 2024.
To highlight that fodder and sugar beet is a small but very important crop for tillage and livestock farmers. The area planted has been consistent for a number of years at approximately 9,000ha, the vast majority of this is produced by specialist growers in Munster and southeast Leinster.Beet is excellent winter feed for livestock, producing the highest dry matter and energy of all forage crops.
It is also fosters and improves cooperation between tillage and livestock farmers which is to be welcomed.
To emphasise that weed control is the most critical management intervention in beet production, as beet is a notoriously poor competitor with weeds. It is widely acknowledged that poor weed control is a major cause of yield losses and crop failure in beet crops.
- The management of weeds in beet has been traditionally based on a little and often approach with herbicides, utilising a range of contact and residual active ingredients targeting weed species which are small and actively emerging.
- The loss of active ingredients such as chloridizan and desmedipham in the past decade forced an industry wide move towards the use of Debut based programmes in combination with other residual and contact based actives such as ethofumosate, lenacil, metamitron and phenmedipham which delivered cost effective, sustainable results with no crop damage.
To Highlight that Debut is the only herbicide which controls weeds such as charlock and volunteer oilseed rape in conventional sugar and fodder beet crops. These weeds are endemic and reoccur annually in arable fields. Populations of these weeds have increased due to the increase in winter oilseed rape production in recent years and also the use of brassica species in winter cover crop mixtures.
- The use of Debut alongside the above-mentioned active ingredients also allows full control of a range of weeds that are poorly controlled by the other individual active ingredients such as bindweed, knotgrass, redshank, field-pansy and speedwell.
- The inclusion of Debut in a typical beet herbicide programme significantly reduces the amount of active ingredient required on a per-hectare basis down from 6446g/ha to 3503g/ha. Please see attached appendix for full details on this calculation.
To demonstrate that the withdrawal of triflusulfuron-methyl containing products such as Debut post 2024 will have a significant, detrimental effect on fodder/sugar beet growers including
To highlight that the viability of conventional beet production in fields with high infestations of charlock and volunteer Oilseed rape will be wiped out overnight.
To highlight that any potential growth in fodder or sugar beet as a native, high dry-matter feed source for livestock will be stunted.
To emphasise that beet grower margins will be lower due to the requirement to use significantly more expensive, lower yielding Conviso varieties.
To demonstrate that there will be a higher loading and more frequent use of other pesticide active ingredients on per hectare basis annually.
To highlight that alternatives to Debut for controlling endemic weeds such as volunteer oilseed rape, charlock weed species include Conviso Smart, sugar beet varieties bred with Clearfield technology to tolerant use of an in-crop ALS herbicide Conviso One.
Any subsequent weed beet from Conviso varieties is tolerant to ALS herbicides and must be controlled by older chemistry such as MCPA and 2,4-D which have a less favourable environmental profile. Conviso varieties are more costly, lower yielding and are only available as sugar beet rather than fodder beet varieties at present.
To stress that the inclusion of inter-row cultivators and laser guided hoes in the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) is welcome. However, the purchase of laser guided equipment is simply not justifiable for the small areas of beet that the majority of Irish growers typically produce on an annual basis.
To request an emergency authorisation for the use of Debut in beet crops during Spring 2025Due to the lack of suitable alternatives.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Francie Gorman IFA President, Kieran McEvoy IFA Grain Chair
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Informal communication (2-5)
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Amii McKeever
Adviser to Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Charlie McConalogue
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)