The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2018 - Issue 59

54 PEST CONTROL OCT/NOV 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk PESTS ON FARMS AND IN GRAIN STORES As soon as you start to accumulate large amounts of food in one place, pests will always become a problem. We take a look at the pest problems farms and grain stores have and ask what you should expect from your pest controller. AS one client recently remarked to me when I arrived on his site after harvest - “I hope you know what you’re doing, I’m storing 2000 tonnes of rat food!” And he was right! Pest controllers who ‘take on’ farms are very different to pest controllers who do your day-to-day rat and mouse work in houses and offices. They have to really know their onions. With so many food al- ternatives to rodenticide, you have to think like a rat to win the rodent war. Proofing As always, excluding pests from the grain store is the first line of defence. A good professional won’t just rodenti- cide up around the farm. They will also do some ‘proofing’ work to keep grain stores pest proof. This might be a simple as stick- ing a bit of wire wool in a gap or applying some mouse-proof mastic (rather inven- tively called Mouse-Stop). Some people might think this a big task but making a little improvement on every visit, you soon end up with rodent-hostile surroundings. Site visits Then there is the question of visit fre- quency. Different companies follow differ- ent procedures. Some still follow the traditional agricul- tural pest calendar: eight visits in the year, clustering around the cold months and you won’t see them much in the summer. This is a little archaic now. In 2011, The Envi- ronment Agency successfully argued in the law courts that this ‘traditional’ schedule of visits is environmentally irresponsible. Some will visit every six weeks and throw in extra visits if there is a problem, but even this is becoming dated. Responsible use of rodent poison The new Campaign for Responsible Ro- denticide Use (CRRU) rules stipulate that if the rodenticide is put down, then it should only be in response to a live infestation. If you have to resort to rodenticide, then a proper site environmental assessments needs to be done to help prevent second- ary poisoning. Rodenticides should never be used for monitoring purposes as this could cause undue risk of harm to the surrounding environment. Naturally, this pushes us towards monthly visits as a minimum and, especially, a heavy focus on proofing and habitat management. After the introduction of the Biocides Products Regulation (BPR) in Europe, rodenticides were one of the first groups of chemicals to be analysed for safety. The result was clear. Rodenticides do harm the environment when misused, and we are only allowed to hang onto them because there is no viable alternative. But levels of rodenticide residue in the wild food chain are being closely moni- tored and it won’t take much to change the minds of the regulators. How to hire a professional pest controller for your farm It is up to us to ensure pest control is being carried out professionally on our farms and that includes hiring audited professionals trained to a high standard. All pest controllers belonging to the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) are audited to the British Standard EN 16636 and only employ technicians with the recognised industry qualifications. You can find a BPCA member using the Find a pest controller tool. The world is changing around us, LEAF, Red Tractor, CRRU and BPR are all pulling in the same direction. Environmental respon- sibility is key in the modern landscape. The days of gamekeepers and farm hands doing the rat baiting are moving into history. Be warned. Martin Cobbald, BPCA Executive Board Member Protect yield and profit from day one Understanding the weed, pest and disease risks from the point of establishment, is key to protecting ultimate profit. “GROWERS face a constant threat to yield from day one of the season,” says Certis’ Tim Eaton. “Soil-borne disease take-all, blackgrass and slugs are three significant threats to a crop’s success. ‘ according to the AHDB, slug damage is estimated to result in crop losses of £43.5m a year ’ “Take-all is estimated to affect half of UK wheat crops, leading to yield losses of up to 50% in second wheats,” explains Tim. “Therefore, reducing the disease with a mix of cultural and chemical controls, such as a specialist seed treatment, delayed drilling, and an early nitrogen application in the spring, will be key.” Geoffrey Bastard, Certis’ Technical Spe- cialist, adds that the hot and dry summer weather caused low blackgrass dormancy, and an early flush of blackgrass emergence in some areas. “Although this has provided an opportu- nity to spray off the weed ahead of drilling, ‘ the hot and dry summer weather caused low blackgrass dormancy, and an early flush of blackgrass emergence in some areas ’ there may still be seeds yet to emerge after crops have been drilled. So, introducing a pre-emergence herbicide programme when soil conditions are suitable, which includes a base line of straight flufenacet, is vital to keep on top of pressure in the crop.” The next challenge is slug pressure, he stresses. “Although the summer drought helped to keep slugs at bay before harvest, growers have reported moderate to high population levels this autumn on some soil types.” According to the AHDB, slug damage is estimated to result in crop losses of £43.5m a year, and with increasing restrictions on metaldehyde use, more growers are mak- ing the switch to ferric phosphate to tackle the pest.

The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2018 - Issue 59 | Page 54