On 18th January 2024, the UK Government’s Farming Minister, Sherwood MP Mark Spencer, approved ‘emergency’ authorisation for the use of the highly damaging neonicotinoid, Thiamethoxam, on sugar beet for the fourth year in a row. This pesticide has been banned in the UK since 2018 but has been approved for use on sugar beet crops in England. This announcement comes despite an industry commitment to end reliance on the banned pesticide by 2023.  

Thiamethoxam is lethal - even a miniscule trace of this toxin can disrupt a bee’s ability to navigate and reproduce, significantly reducing the chance of survival. With a third of UK food crops pollinated by insects, and their contribution to the UK economy estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds per year - our food system cannot function without bees.   

Research published in 2023 found harmful neonicotinoids present in more than 10% of English rivers, home to 3,800 invertebrate species, despite a widespread ban of these chemicals in 2018. Today’s decision will put the health of these rivers at even further risk.  

Erin McDaid, Head of Communications at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, says:  

"The Farming Minister’s decision to authorise use of a banned neonicotinoid pesticide on sugar beet for a fourth consecutive year is a serious blow for wildlife and the wrong decision. It signals a backwards move and is not an example of evidence-based decision making. It is also a betrayal of those farmers who are committed to producing food sustainably.” 

Erin continued, "It is shocking that on the same day that the Office for Environmental Protection published a report highlighting that the UK Government is still not on track to meet its own environmental commitments, politicians are still putting short-term corporate profits above nature and the long-term sustainability of farm businesses.” 

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is hugely disappointed because this decision ignores the third of sugar beet farmers across England who have chosen not to use this chemical in previous years. They will now be disadvantaged this year. UK farmers are clear that the use of this chemical is not a long-term solution and the farmers already working without it are demonstrating that it is possible to produce food in a way that helps - rather than harms – nature.  

Rather than repeated authorisation for the use of banned toxic chemicals, The Wildlife Trusts want to see British Sugar, which has a sugar beet processing factory in Newark, and the UK Government offer more support for farmers to transition away from harmful pesticides like these, which threaten the future of our farming and natural systems. 

"This should include providing farmers growing non-neonic treated sugar with clear routes to market and targeted financial support for non-neonic beet growers to cover additional risk they are currently taking on." 

In June 2023, The Wildlife Trusts submitted a formal complaint about the Minister’s decision to grant authorisations in previous years to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). This is still under consideration. The UK Government’s decision to authorise this chemical is in contradiction with the OEP’s recently released report: Progress on improving the natural environment in England. The report states that UK Government’s efforts to manage exposure to chemicals and pesticides has been limited and they it is largely off track to meet its commitments.   

Approximately fifteen thousand people, including almost 200 in Nottinghamshire, wrote to Mark Spencer, the Farming Minister, asking him to provide more support for farmers, healthy wildlife, and unpolluted soils and rivers - instead of another year of banned, toxic chemicals.