Neonicotinoid product as seed treatment for sugar beet: emergency authorisation application 2024
The Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries grants conditional emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat seeds for the 2024 sugar beet seed crop in England.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
In the summer of 2023, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) received an application from the National Farmers Union (NFU) and British Sugar seeking an emergency authorisation for the use of a neonicotinoid product as a seed treatment on sugar beet. The product is ‘Cruiser SB’, which provides protection against a range of pests and the viruses they transmit.
The Minister has granted a conditional emergency authorisation to use Cruiser SB to treat sugar beet seed in England during the 2024 growing season. The seed treatment will only be allowed if the virus incidence level is forecast to meet or exceed a set threshold. If the threshold condition is met, the seed treatment must be used in compliance with the following strict conditions (in addition to standard requirements that HSE would apply to the product):
- only a specific list of crops, none of which flower before harvest, are permitted to be planted in the same field as treated sugar beet within 32 months
- no further use of thiamethoxam seed treatments on the same field within 46 months
- application rate of Cruiser SB reduced from 100 ml per 100,000 seeds to 75 ml per 100,000 seeds (this reduces the application rate of thiamethoxam from 60g per 100,000 seeds to 45g per 100,000 seeds)
- observance of industry-recommended herbicide programmes for weeds growing in treated fields
- a maximum drilling rate for treated seed of 115,000 seeds per hectare
- treated seed must be entirely incorporated in the soil and fully incorporated at the end of rows
- treated seed should not be left on the soil surface. Spillages should be buried or removed
- compliance with a stewardship scheme, including a number of requirements for monitoring levels of neonicotinoids in the environment
- a number of requirements for data to be collected or generated and submitted to government
The authorisation can be withdrawn or amended at any time if the conditions are not adhered to, or if the requirements under retained Regulation 1107/2009 are no longer met. This includes if new information becomes available that is relevant to consideration of the tests for emergency authorisation.
Alongside the statement of reasons for the decision to issue, we are publishing the following documents that informed the decision-making process:
- Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser’s advice on the use of Cruiser SB on the UK’s sugar beet crops
- Defra economists’ analysis on the impacts of yellows virus on sugar beet production
- Emergency authorisation guiding principles, outlining the key elements involved in assessing and deciding on applications for emergency authorisation of plant protection products
- UK Expert Committee on Pesticides’ advice
- HSE’s emergency registration report
Previous decisions
Read the National Archives for previous decisions on neonicotinoid use on sugar beet seed crops:
Updates to this page
Published 8 January 2021Last updated 18 January 2024 + show all updates
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Published a statement on the decision to issue emergency authorisation, with strict conditions, to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat sugar beet seed in 2024. Also published the following relevant information: - Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser’s advice on the use of Cruiser SB on sugar beet - Defra's economic analysis on the impacts of yellows virus on sugar beet production Added links to the: - the HSE’s emergency registration report - the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides’ advice Removed details of 2023 decision and supporting documents and added links to previous decisions on the National Archives website.
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2021 and 2022 decisions and supporting documents removed as attachments on page and added to National Archives - link added to this page for access.
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We’ve added a summary of the conditions attached to the emergency authorisation decision in the Details section of the web page. We’ve also made the following corrections in the attached documents: - ‘use is only permitted if the predicted virus incidence level is 63% or above, as determined on 1 March 2023’ (this was mistakenly given as 1 March 2022) [Statement of reasons for the 2023 decision] - ‘a 46-month ban on subsequent use of Cruiser SB on the same field’ (this was mistakenly given as a 48-month ban) [Chief Scientific Adviser’s advice on the use of Cruiser SB on the 2023 sugar beet crop] - ‘ Our analysis suggests that these methods, alongside other IPM actions, will be effective in managing predicted virus incidence up to 62%’ (this was mistakenly given as up to 53%) [Defra economic analysis report 2023]
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We have published a statement on the decision to issue - with strict conditions - emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat sugar beet seed in 2023. The following documents have been added: - The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) advice - Defra economic analysis evidence report on the impacts of virus yellows on sugar beet production 2023 - Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser’s advice on the use of Cruiser SB on the 2023 sugar beet crop - Statement of reasons for the decision on the application for emergency authorisation for the use of Cruiser SB on the 2023 sugar beet crop We've also added a link to the Health and Safety Executive's emergency registration report for the use of Cruiser SB on the 2023 sugar beet crop.
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Update March 2022: Following a relatively mild winter, modelling on 1 March 2022 predicted a level of virus incidence that means the required threshold for use has been met and the seed treatment can now proceed under strict conditions.
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Alongside the statement on the decision to issue, we have now published the following documents that informed the decision making process: * Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser’s Advice * Defra's economist’s analysis this document contains Defra’s economist’s analysis on the impacts of virus yellows on sugar beet production * Emergency Authorisation guiding principles
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We have published a statement on the decision to issue with strict conditions emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat sugar beet seed in 2022
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Updated decision to reflect that the neonicotinoid product has not been used this year.
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First published.