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Emergency use of three pesticides that can be deadly to bees will soon be stopped for good, the government has said.
Neonicotinoids were banned in 2018 but sugar beet farmers have been given special permission to use them every year for the past four years to fight virus yellows, a disease spread by aphids.
The government announced on Saturday that it would be looking at “legislative options” that would legally prevent all future use of three specific neonicotinoids.
In the meantime, an application for emergency use in 2025 by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and British Sugar will still have to be considered under existing laws.
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The two organizations said industry work on developing alternative ways of fighting the disease – which has caused crop losses of up to 80% in the past – was “progressing well”.
The NFU added that simply having a list of banned products for which there could be no emergency authorization for use “could set a worrying precedent” but wildlife organizations have welcomed the government’s announcement.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said there was “no place in British agriculture for toxic bee-killing pesticides”.
He added that the government’s decision “must not be undermined by granting the emergency use of neonicotinoids next year”.