The price of producing brassicas in the UK could rise by 300 per cent, effectively ending production if the country, if proposed EU pesticide legislation comes into force.

This was the claim from crop research consultancy ADAS, which this week told delegates at a British Crop Production Council (BCPA) Food Chain Forum in London that the plans for new pesticide regulations could mean brassica production becomes uneconomical.

The BCPA claimed that the new legislation, which it says is scheduled to be implemented in 2009, could lead to the removal of 85 per cent of agrochemical products currently approved for use in the UK.

James Clarke, science and business development manager at ADAS, said the plans could also lead to an increase of between 49 and 100 per cent in the cost of potato production, while disease control could become a major problem for all crops.

“We would see major disease problems in the potato crop in terms of blight control,” he warned.

David Richardson, senior agronomist at the UK Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD), claimed the EU Parliament proposals could lead to 66 per cent of insecticides being removed from approved lists, as well as 49 per cent of fungicides and 33 per cent of herbicides.

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