Radio 4 Podcasts

The Life Scientific.

Interview with David Goulson, professor at University of Essex.
Dave G: Theres an accumulating body of evidence that is not just bees we should
be concerned about. Something is going wrong with our countryside and I am not
trying to say its all to do with this particular group of pesticides, I think its more to do
with the overall way we are managing the countryside, but everything is disappearing
.
Interviewer: But of course, we do rely on pesticides for our crops. This year farmers
have been complaining that their crops have been destroyed by pests. Recently on
the Today Programme, Hannah Barnes talked to Essex farmer Stuart Galloway.
H. Barnes: In a good year or a normal year what should we be seeing now?
Farmer: We should be seeing a green field with rape about six inches tall.
H. B : And what can we see?
Farmer: A brown field with very little rape in it. The cabbage flea beetle that has
destroyed this crop, it makes potholes in the leaves, which basically destroy the leaf,
and then it cant photosynthesize, and so it cant grow. Were growing crops to feed
the population, and to do it as efficiently and as effectively as we can, but the
industry as a whole is very concerned that the rape crop will be decimated.
H.B : If the ban of neonicotinoids continues, what will you do going forward?
Farmer: Well, I dont know yet, but Ive got to seriously think about whether its viable
to grow rape.
Interviewer: Dave, what do you say to farmers? Are there any alternatives to
neonics?
Dave G: Well, firstly the tales of crop devastation have been someway exaggerated.
It has been a bad year for flea beetles, it has been a hot, dry summer. It wouldve
been a bad year for flea beetles regardless of whether there was a moratorium on
nionics or not. The home-grown cereals authority do a big survey to work out actually
how bad is the damage and they announce that actually 2.6% of the oil seed rape
crop was lost which about half has been successfully re-sown and is fine. If the price
of saving our bees is losing 1.3% of our oil seed rape crop, then for me its nobrainer, but thats a price worth paying.
Interviewer: Its a matter of balance. We have tried to balance having enough food to
feed the population and conserving nature. And are we, for instance, prepared to pay
more for food if thats what it comes to?
Dave G: I think actually thats a sort of a false premise. Its Were in no danger of
running out of food anytime soon, actually we waste extraordinary amount of food in
this world. I think its more a case of: do we want to manage the environment in a
sustainable way so that we can leave a healthy environment for our grandchildren?

Or do we want to make a load of money right now? Our farming system is currently
depending on a blizzard of pesticides. Every field is treated with at least 20 different
pesticides in a single growing season. Farmers have pretty much abandoned most
of the techniques that they used to rely on to manage pests like crop rotations, using
resistant varieties, trying to encourage natural enemies, there are no natural
enemies left on those farmers because theyve been wiped out by all the pesticides.

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