"Apathy? No, its not that, it's just that I can't be bothered."

We have never been good at standing up for ourselves in farming. The public see us as moaners - we moan about the weather, grain prices, fertiliser prices, regulations, inspections, red tape, yields, incomes, people who moan about our moaning . . . . . but we NEVER moan about what REALLY matters WHEN it really matters. This then is aimed more towards those in our industry who rely upon agriculture for their livelihoods and those who have far more time to spare than our farmers, who of course need to find the time to shout too when they can. I'm calling on the the rest of our industry who DO have that time to spare to do their bit to help safeguard farmings future by standing up for it. No one else will do it for us - it's our call.

My recent "Save glyphosate from being banned by false knowledge and ignorance" petition is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Around 10 weeks ago, I posted the said petition. It's aim was to make it easy for farmers and others within the industry to sign and show their support for glyphosate as a vital weapon in our fight against resistant weeds such as blackgrass to the wider public. It was featured in Farmers Weekly where a link to the petition was printed, it was widely publicised in the farming press, online, on social media and on the radio. No need to get up and spend hours looking for it, there's a link to it from my website (www.sasagronomy.co.uk) and I even put a link on my Twitter feed (@sasagronomy). Quick, painless and simple - just flick on the I-Pad or the smart phone, spend 30 seconds signing an online form and BOOM . . . it's as quick, simple and straightforward as that to show you are 100% behind Glyphosate and that as an industry we cannot afford to lose it. Simple.

Or so you would think. The sad reality is however, that out of well over a hundred thousand farm businesses in the UK (and probably just as many allied trades people who rely upon farming for their income) just less than a magnificent 6000 people from the industry so far have managed to find the time and inclination to put their name to it and thereby show their support for this crucial active. LESS THAN 6%!

Now, as an industry we have a serious problem. Because whether you want to believe it or not, that plays straight into the "ban-it" lobbyists hands. To them, it appears that the industry couldn't care less about glyphosate, about neonics, about endocrine disruptors - to the policy makers our silence is deafening.

To those who are "anti" conventional farming and "anti" glyphosate, this is spurring them on to think that they may well be winning the race . . . . and sadly glyphosate is only the tip of the iceberg. Despite glyphosate ONCE AGAIN being given a totally clean bill of health by the ECHA - the latest study shows that its most certainly not a carcinogen, a mutagen, it doesn't bio-accumulate, its not an endocrine disruptor, it has no effect on androgen, oestrogen or indeed thyroid function, that it's safe to amphibians when used as we use it and that it won't cause you, your children or your pets any damage or inconvenience whatsoever over the course of a lifetime of eating food . . . unless of course you're a plant.

As I write this, in the EU parliament they are however not JUST talking about glyphosate, because the lobbying groups are highly motivated, highly organised and financially secure. They are being bankrolled by massive organisations and spend their days doing nothing but bombarding policy makers with their "anti-everything chemical" ideology. You should all be afraid - VERY afraid, because the MPs and MEPs tell me that they are inundated with letters and emails from the anti's and the farming community is hardly registering an interest. 10 minutes is all it takes to write a letter or an email, so why are so few of us doing it . . . . shouldn't we ALL be doing it?

At present, the EU parliament is voting on whether we get re-registration for glyphosate. But they are ALSO deciding whether neonicotinoids should be banned totally for outdoor use, and the decisions will be based upon non-ratified reports from studies carried out by anti-neonicotinoid "scientists". Remember that the moratorium on neonics used in oilseed rape as a seed treatment, was brought in in 2013 to protect bees from the potential - but thus far independently unconfirmed - effects of neonicotinoid residues in the pollen. The moratorium was for 2 years while further studies were carried out. 4 years on, and that perfect example of precision farming - it doesn't get more precise than putting the insecticide on the seed itself to reduce numbers of subsequent foliar applications - looks unlikely to be reinstated due to the pressure of chemiphobe lobbying groups. This drive for a total outdoor ban on neonics is being driven by the anti-neonicotinoid political lobbying community. They are writing these reports and publishing their own conclusions - and the EU regulators are listening to them, because theirs is the only voice they're hearing - and its bloody loud.

A complete ban on the outdoor use of neonicotinoids means its removal from use as a seed dressing in cereals and sugar beet - two crops that bees rarely visit let alone forage in, because they don't produce pollen - at all in the case of sugar beet, and none that is even remotely attractive to bees in the case of cereals. In turn, that means that virus yellows in beet becomes uncontrollable because myzus persicae, the principal vector of the virus, which is largely resistant to our only other means of control namely pyrethroids can proceed with impunity. Beet growing therefore becomes a lottery and highly likely to be loss making in a year when myzus persicae are unchallenged by useful deterrent insecticides.

Similarly, Deter on cereals would go too, that means that hundreds of tons more slug pellets will be applied to control the slugs deter deals with now and that the BYDV vectors themselves - bird cherry aphid, grain aphid, rose grain aphid - which are also largely resistant to pyrethroids will thrive, thus potentially leading to winter cereal production seeing yields at best dropping by 25% and at worst becoming uneconomic to grow as a crop - because in a bad year it could easily be as high as 60% or more.

And we as an industry are sitting back and waiting for it to happen because we're not saying anything to the contrary. Silence is being taken as an endorsement.

Then we have the endocrine disruptor debate that is being run in parallel - where anything that could potentially be classed as endocrine disrupting looks likely to be banned too - and that could be up to 80% of the traizoles, all the SDHI's . . . . getting the picture yet?

All regulatory and re-registration decisions in the EU are to be based on hazard rather than risk, therefore how likely they are to cause any effect over a lifetime is dismissed as irrelevant. Caffeine, alcohol, sunshine - all hazardous . . . should they be banned or should we regulate our exposure to them and live safe and happy lives? The risk of any detrimental exposure to agrochemicals however plays no part in the deliberations - this is all about hazard and, therefore, if a substance used in agriculture is shown to have endocrine disrupting properties, it makes no difference how miniscule or insignificant that risk to us is, it will be banned under the current process.

Apparently non stick coatings on frying pans, most cosmetics, washing up liquid, face creams, dishwasher tablets, fabric softeners, dryer sheets, candles, tin can linings, air fresheners and till receipts to name just a few which ALL contain endocrine disrupting chemicals aren't even going to be looked at and indeed have no regulations governing the levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals they can contain. So its OK to rub them on your skin and directly breathe them in, its just not OK to use hundreds of times lower concentrations than that in agriculture about 2 years before you even come close to being in contact with them.

So our biggest problem is twofold.

1. Ourselves. The anti's are everywhere. They're on telly, in the media, they're, advising the policy makers, they're all over Twitter, they shout louder and louder every day and our quiet squeaky voice such that it is is being drowned out by their constant and ever increasing bellowing. We need to have our voice heard and it's only the numbers of those shouting that increase the volume.
2. Science is being over ruled by political activism. If the science says it's safe, that should be final and it should therefore be above any political interference - we should all trust the science. The lobbyists agree with the science when it suits their aims, but dismiss it and cherry pick if it's contrary to their beliefs. They even go so far as to accept one ruling and dismiss another from the same scientific body. (ECHA and EFSA & Neonicotinoids = agree with these wonderful independent scientific bodies; ECHA Glyphosate = disagree with the nonsensical industry funded research and clearly biased data)

NOW is the time for agriculture to shout. NOW is the time for our industry to show that we care and are passionate about the future of both science and of farming - for what we have now and for what we will need in order to produce safe, healthy and plentiful food in the future. NOW is the time to get off our backsides and to stand up.

Write to your MP, your MEP and any other P (www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-your-mp/ or just Google "who is my MP", or just go to https://www.sasagronomy.co.uk/ and click the link) and then tell them the impact that the loss of about 80 % of the fungicides you currently use would have on your business. Tell them how a 30% fall in yields (in a good year) would affect your farm income and the people you employ and tell them how the loss of vital herbicides and insecticides like glyphosate and neonicotinoid seed treatments, would be catastrophic and devastating to the likelihood of sustainable farming in the future.

Tell them because if you don't tell them, they'll assume you're all OK with the prospect of losing them and they will indeed go - and once they're gone they're gone.

You MUST show your support, because those who wish all of these things to happen - and there are hundreds of thousands of highly motivated, highly vocal, highly funded anti-farming lobbyists out there who have been fighting for these things for years and who are more motivated and vocal now than than they ever have been - WILL SUCCEED if we keep our collective mouths shut.

We must get off our backsides and stand up for ourselves before its too late. It's 23.59 on the clock and at 00.00 conventional farming changes forever with no way back - and trust me when I say that if they win with glyphosate, neonics, endocrine disruptors, etc etc, they won't stop until we're all back in smocks using horses to pull the plough . . . . then they'll get the the horses banned on animal welfare grounds. Just like the Duracell bunny, these lobbyists will just keep going.

We all know how important these actives are to the future of agriculture, to sustainable food production, to the environment, to food security and to us. The more of us that shout, the louder the voice - UK farming, it's time to get loud.

Be one of those who try to do something about it - we can all moan about the others later.