Defra has launched an initiative through the Pesticides Safety Directorate which aims to safeguard the production of minor crops by improving the availability of pesticides.

A minor uses network has now been established in order to identify gaps in the pesticides armoury. PSD expert David Richardson said: 'We need to feed into the group at UK level and are formulating a network so we have a UK source of information to feed into the European network.

A website will be launched in the next two weeks so that all those involved can access the information and find out what is going on. We aim to find the solutions that are already there in Europe and co-ordinate the production of data across member states.

'The initiative has the potential to be on the slow side but already there is an opportunity for member states to communicate with each other,' he added.