Potato Review

42 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2021 LEGISLATION T he UK biostimulant industry is facing an extensive review of the regulatory environment relating to the ability of UK growers to apply them after September 2022. e legislative review (DEFRA, Project 31280 “Creating an Enabling Regulatory Environment for Enhanced E ciency Fertilisers”) has come about under the EU withdrawal agreement. Within it, the UK signed up to the EU Fertiliser Regulation, (EC) 219/1009. But Managing Director of Emerald Research Ltd (ERL), Simon Fox, said there appears to have been little consultation and evidence evaluation since initial contact with ADAS/ DEFRA. Instead, he said there has been “a pre-determined course of alignment”. DEFRA is due to publish the consultation for industry comment next month (August 2021), before starting to develop the draft legislation in December. Under European regulation, biostimulant manufacturers and importers will be required to conduct the same level of environmental, safety and eld trials that are required for pesticide registration. However, unlike pesticides, they will not be able to make any claims of plant strengthening or reduction of biotic stress, ‘The worst of both worlds’ Research boss believes the UK biostimulant industry is in an EU regulation stranglehold and better industry consultation is needed. even when proven, said Simon, describing the situation as “the worst of both worlds”. “ e absurdity of the proposed legislation would mean farmers are, for example, unable to use dilute seaweed extracts or fulvic acid on food crops to resolve biotic stress, while the public is free to purchase both seaweed and fulvic concentrate capsules over the counter as supplements to directly ingest!” He added: “Within the industry, I have had numerous conversations and we are all at a loss for the need for regulation at all. In my 40 years’ experience, there have been no health and safety concerns related to biostimulants that we can nd or that have been reported. “However, if more regulation is a political requirement, I would be happy to see guideline regulation in the form of a much lighter-touch self-certi ed CE mark type, such as those currently in use in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. ese are all examples of countries where a ‘light- touch, self-certi ed approach’ is successfully applied and where biostimulants are positively excluded from pesticide regulations.” Even under the EU withdrawal agreement, DEFRA does not have to align with Europe, Simon said, pointing out that a precedent was set when the UK government decided to vary the implementation of the EU regulations of REACH with its own amended version, REACH UK. He said the UK government should enable farmers and growers to be at the forefront of sustainable agriculture, and provide them with the capability of delivering the aims of the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) and the ability to reduce their reliance on fertilisers and plant protection products. What are your views on biostimulant legislation? If you have insights or experiences to share, please get in touch with us online at www.potatoreview.com/ contact or email the editor at stephanie.cornwall@warnersgroup.co.uk. Under European regulation, biostimulant manufacturers and importers will be required to conduct the same level of environmental, safety and field trials that are required for pesticide registration. Simon Fox, Managing Director of Emerald Research Ltd (ERL)