04 Apr Radio 4 Farming Today omits assurance scheme option for rodenticide purchases under stewardship regime
An item about the rodenticide stewardship regime on BBC Radio 4 Farming Today (Friday 1 April) omitted that members of approved assurance schemes are certified to purchase professional use rodenticides with stewardship labels.
Nine such schemes are now stewardship-approved for the period until 31 December 2017:*
- Red Tractor Farm Assurance (beef and lamb, dairy, combinable crops and sugar beet, fresh produce, pigs, poultry)
- Quality Meat Scotland (cattle and sheep, pigs)
- Farm Assured Welsh Livestock (beef and lamb)
- Scottish Quality Crops
- Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (beef and lamb, cereals)
- British Egg Industry Council Code of Practice for Lion Eggs
- Duck Assurance Scheme (breeder replacement, breeder layers, Hatcheries, Table Birds, Free-Range Table Birds)
- Quality British Turkey
- Agricultural Industries Confederation (compound feeds, combinable crops and animal feeds)
An exact date when farmers are first asked for certification cannot be specified due to phasing out old stock and introduction of stewardship-authorised products. April to September is a transition period, during which old stock with pre-stewardship labels can still be purchased without certification for application strictly by the end of the “use by” period, while new stocks of stewardship-labelled products will require certification.
Two certain dates are 30 September 2016 when old stock sales will cease, and the next day
when proof of competence and I/D will be essential.
More information about the stewardship regime and training options for farmers are available at www.ahdb.org.uk/projects/RodentControlHub.aspx, and for gamekeepers and pest controllers from their own professional bodies. A new Stewardship Q&A document has also just been published by CRRU, which can be downloaded HERE.