Changes to pesticide spraying could reduce GM harm
Leaving just 2% of transgenic crop rows unsprayed could boost diversity.
British crop researchers are claiming that they have developed a method to stop transgenic crops from damaging the biodiversity of weeds and seeds. By leaving two rows in every 100 unsprayed with pesticides, enough diversity can be preserved to prevent knock-on effects on birds and other animals, they calculate.
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Comments
Comments to Michael Hopkin:
1. Re your photo. Aerial spraying is not used in sugar beet production, or most UK arable agriculture. The paper refers to conventional boom spraying.
2. We have tested this in other trials - but preferred to use FSE data because this is the world's largest ever farmland ecology experiment.
Comments re Matt Heard's contribution:
1. You put the mitigation needed on the product label. Farmers obey labels.
2. You use your eyes. Unsprayed patches are clearly visible.
3. The average yield increase from GMHT beet is 5%. The yield loss from not spraying is 2%. Result: a 3% yield increase,£100/ha approx increase in profitability and greatly increased ease of management. 'Might not seem like a good idea' says Heard - its a no-brainer to anyone who understands farming.
4. Our paper advocates wider margins. But, of course, these do nothing for species that require mid-field environments.
5. Gimmick. Unsprayed refugia are widely and successfully used in USA and Australia. Small unsprayed patches are advocated by RSPB as 'birdscrapes' for skylarks. Europe needs to wake up to management for biodiversity AND production.
Comment re Les Firbank's comment:
1. Blackgrass is not a major problem in sugar beet rotations. Glyphosate is much stronger on grasses (including blackgrass) than it is on many broadleaved weeds. Low rates of glyphosate are a reasonably good method of tipping the balance between grass and broadleaved weeds in favour of the latter.
Posted by: Dr John Pidgeon | April 19, 2007 09:32 AM