As growers look to establish oilseed rape crops, Pioneer has outlined the benefits of two seed treatments available on varieties being shipped to the UK.
Andy Stainthorpe, sales manager for seeds and silage inoculants, explained that UK regulations mean that growers are limited in choice.
“The current situation is that anybody producing seed in the UK is treating their seed with a very limited range of products due to current regulations,” Andy said.
“Because we treat our seeds outside the UK in Europe, we can apply seed treatments that are approved in the EU on our seed and import them to the UK, giving farmers valuable options.”
The Scenic Gold fungicidal seed treatment is said to have a proven effect against phoma, alternaria, downy mildew and damping off. The insecticide treatment Lumiposa is also an option for crops challenged by pests.
Either or both of these treatments are available for growers ordering Pioneer’s oilseed varieties.
“There is no permit for treating seeds with insecticide in the UK at the moment, so your choice is seed without an insecticide or sow with imported seeds which are treated with an EU-approved insecticide seed treatment,” says Andy.
“We’ve been selling imported seed treated with Lumiposa for the last several years, and farmers are always coming back to us with positive feedback on the seed’s performance.
“If you want to get your crop to harvest, then you need to do anything you can that will give your crop the best start possible and you can do that by sowing seed treated with an insecticide and fungicide, and Pioneer provides that with its oilseed rape varieties.”
For more information go to www.corteva.co.uk