Gerald Collini was an arable agronomist for 43 years. For the latter 33 years he worked independently.
The declining numbers of some farm land birds and a possible contributing factor?
Several recent European and home studies suggest that insecticides may be implicated?
The 1970s and the start of intensive arable farming appears to be point of reference. At this time a new type of insecticide came on to the market. The Synthetic Pyrethroids (SP’s). These products were a step forward for farmers They controlled many types of insect at very low rates of chemical, degraded quickly and posed a very low hazard to mammals all very cheaply. Latterly the effectiveness is somewhat reduced on several types of insect but the effect upon caterpillars remains as deadly. Caterpillars are an almost unknown threat to arable crops but form a vital part of the diet of most songbird chicks.
All agrochemicals bear rules/laws proclaiming where and how they may be used.
The rules to prevent insecticides from crossing into protected areas are writ large. Leaving areas untreated is inconvenient, causing more passes through the crop. Rules regarding wind speed are quite subjective. One man’s gale is another man’s breeze . I’ve seen drift and its effects over 200 metres from the sprayer. There are farmers that care and try to do their job as well as they can, respecting the environment and the wildlife within.
Many farms have become larger, rules become stretched and just getting the work completed becomes paramount.
I’m afraid with crop spraying you can do WHAT you like WHERE you like and WHEN you like, with little or no fear of retribution.
Some Oilseed Rape Crops are sprayed several times in spring/early summer with fungicides and/or growth regulators. On many farms an SP is dropped into the mix “just in case”. Necessity is not a consideration. Maybe once a decade there is a need?
Spraying the crop unnecessarily is one thing, spraying the field surroundings is a completely different matter.
I have been in contact with HM Govt. on this subject. I even suggested a possible solution : (tracer /marker in all insecticides) This would disclose offenders, but I was brushed off with platitudes about wanting to improve all things environmental. Shallow politics I expect? The marker could work if HM Govt. wanted it to. I suspect a fear of Big Chemical and or Big Farming?
Of course any concession of knowledge of the subject did not arrive but it did become clear that no one looks! I understand that there is now even the threat of a strong letter to environmental offenders? I can see Big Farming laughing in their wellies.
Maybe it’s high time that the general public knew about goes on and that their taxes could be contributing to more environmental areas that are allowed to be sprayed with insecticides, thus rendering them worthless.
Less insecticide and none where unnecessary may just slow the songbird decline?
Mark writes: I met Gerald only recently – he lives quite near me and is having a house built even nearer so I may be seeing more of him in future. As an agronomist he knows more of this subject than I do, but he has also been a farmer too.
Four points from me:
- The idea that powerful chemicals are used without too much constraint is not new, and the few people to whom I have talked about this all agree that it is a strong possibility. How often are insecticides part of the mix, I wonder?
- Spray drift is definitely something that happens. I quite often see spraying going on in conditions where drift is inevitable but I’ve always told myself that it’s probably a benign chemical so Gerald’s idea that insecticide is sometimes added to the spray tank is worrying.
- The proposal that a chemical marker be added to insecticides so that improper use could be traced is a great idea, assuming it is practical. Is it?
- And the thing that struck me about this is that it is another area where the codes of practice and some laws exist but are not enforced – cf raptor persecution, heather burning, medicated grit use etc
“I’ve always told myself that it’s probably a benign chemical so Gerald’s idea that insecticide is sometimes added to the spray tank is worrying”.
I am not sure what a ‘benign chemical’ would be in this case. If a crop is being sprayed it is being done to ‘control’ a perceived pest (as far as I know fertilisers are not normally applied as sprays but typically in solid, spheriod form, using different machinery) and therefore if the chemical being applied is drifting beyond the target crop then there is a possibility that non target organisms will be affected. If the chemical is a herbicide then the potential ecological implications are obvious; if it is a fungicide who knows what the impacts of drift are? Certainly fungi play a a critical role in ecosystems but I have no idea if spray drift has or could have a significant effect on this? Either way I would suggest that it is not only drift of insecticides that we should be concerned about.
Jonathan – yes, maybe wishful thinking on my part. Growth regulators are often sprayed.
Foliar application of nitrogen and sulphur compounds are frequently used with the objective of raising protein content above 13% in milling wheat in order to secure a milling premium. Paradoxically, another approach could be to use much less nitrogen altogether, as protein content is negatively correlated with yield in milling wheat.
Thanks Filbert, that’s interesting.
Another factor that I remember being pointed out to me in the 1970s was the increase in planting winter wheat. Is it possible to measure the change that this made to nesting habitats and food availability?
That is certainly also a change that has had an impact on ground nesting birds Lyn. ‘Skylark plots’ are a measure specifically intended to address this issue and I believe there is plenty of evidence in support of their effectiveness in increasing skylark numbers.
The problem Gerald highlights would affect a wider range of farmland birds, including those species nesting in trees and hedges as it affects the availability of prey species.
Unfortunately during the period referred to there have undoubtedly been a number of different changes to the way farmland is managed that all make it less suitable habitat for birds (and other wildlife). The combined effect of all of these is seen in the decline of so many species.
Coincidentally today Martin Harper blogs on agriculture. worth a read: https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/default.aspx
I have long been of the opinion that chemicals, in their various applications, are the main cause of
much of the decline in this country’s wildlife.
There is still so much good habitat remaining, yet a walk through it reveals nothing like the once expected bird or insect life.
An idea to refine?
Sprayers could be required to have a tachometer type piece of kit that recorded when they were working and where. This could report in by phone. The data could be compared to met office wind records. As far as compliance most modern kit is now moving towards gps for its day to day functions so the system could be integrated into this so there was less chance of fiddling.
Everything increased in the 70s because we joined the EC. I knew it was a bad idea because all the bosses awarded themselves e-Type Jugulars and trebles all round. The Intervention support from the CAP guaranteed a floor price for cereals so the banks started lending more to farmers because they could calculate how much debt the farmer could afford. Then the Russians pulled off the Great Grain Robbery and the Great Panic started. Prices shot up and the more everyone grew the more they were paid until there was too much so they were paid to not produce it. Take-all disease wasn’t controlled well by genetic or chemical means so the phenomenon of Take-all Decline was exploited – this required either 3 wheat crops in a rotation or continuous wheat. Barley doesn’t suffer from wheat diseases so it was a good break crop and winter barley had high yield potential but the seed trade hated winter barley because the varieties were 6-row and tall and stood out like a sore thumb if they contaminated anything else in the production line.
Then came Igri. A short-strawed 2-row winter barley from Ackermann in Germany. Boom – it would take a lot of N without falling over and quickly displaced spring barleys from the rotation. Winter oilseed rape with low glucosinolate and low erucic acid was beginning to arrive and the scene was set for the disappearance of spring crops and winter stubbles from arable rotations. And so it came to pass. And of course almost every seed that was sown was treated against insect or fungal pests – a lot of mercury was used before it was banned but as far as I know it doesn’t leach and is still all there apart from that which has migrated to water-borne sediments. Then there is slug control …
Then that woman came on the telly – can’t remember her name but I think it was her what bonked the Prime Minister – and told us what we already knew about chickens having Salmonella so the headless media chickens kicked off the Food Safety Panic and all grain stores had to be sealed against ingress of birds so all that free spadger and pigone food disappeared overnight. And we are wondering why there are fewer birds.
I agree with Trapit – too much has been made of habitat loss and not enough about the loss of invertebrates as the base of the food supply. It’s a shame that public awareness doesn’t get much further than butterflies and bees and other pollinators.
All life is interconnected.
As others have said general public have no idea of the destruction that has taken place in our rural areas (I also suspect that because most live in urban areas they don’t care which is why politicians are not seen or heard defending wildlife which also doesn’t have a vote, another reason it is ignored by MPs) whilst their taxes paid the culprits to destroy and pull up hedges and cut down trees just to mention some other things farmers get up to. Along with MPs we have no media that is independent or brave enough to spread the word.
Programs like BBC’s Countryfile could better inform public of what REALLY goes on in our countryside but with people like Adam “Its hard being a farmer” Benson on hand to give farming a fluffy harmless image it won’t happen.