Environmental Crop Management

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Environmental Crop Management's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Environmental Crop Management is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

www.ecmltd.co.uk

1ENVIRONMENTAL CROP MANAGEMENT |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Managing Director Peter Clare

and Igor Teslenko Corteva

European business leader

Untreated wheat and

fungicide treated wheat

Established in 1991, Environmental Crop Management works

with 1,200 farmers throughout northwest England. Voted

one of the best crop protection companies in the world, it

has been recognised for promoting sustainable, environmentally

friendly farming techniques while producing high-yielding,

quality crops. Its agronomists recommend products only after

a full crop inspection, and a decision to spray is made after

alternative control measures are explored fully. It functions to

manage crop health with minimal environmental disturbance

while delivering high yields. Managing Director Peter Clare

explains how the company has demonstrated that profitability,

respect for biodiversity and best environmental practice are

complementary rather than incompatible with each other.

Farmers produce our food and provide one of the very foundations of our society.

Five years on from our last article in

The Parliamentary Review

, much has improved

in UK agriculture. Most people are unaware of the weeds, pests and diseases that

threaten our food supply in the UK and few understand the highly skilled and

regulated farming industries that combine to bring food to their plate. Farming’s

successful delivery of cheap, safe food has created a comfort within modern

society, but only seven days’ food supply is in stock in this country at any one time

so we cannot be complacent.

As the Chinese proverb says: “A person who has food has many problems, a

person who has no food has only one problem.” Sadly, in the time it takes to read

FACTS ABOUT

ENVIRONMENTAL CROP

MANAGEMENT

»Managing Director: Peter Clare

»Founded in 1991

»Based in Warrington

»Services: Agronomy,

offering the highest level of

environmental protection

»No. of employees: 10

»Winners of the Corteva

Environmental Ambassador

Award in 2018

»Voted best crop protection

company in the world

»www.ecmltd.co.uk

Environmental Crop

Management

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

2| ENVIRONMENTAL CROP MANAGEMENT

this article 100 people will have died

of starvation. Most likely, their loss will

be a tragedy for a family we will never

know in the developing world. Closer

to home, food poverty is becoming

more prevalent, with over 500,000

people reliant on food banks, while

more than two million people in the

UK are estimated to be malnourished,

with many more at risk. Providing an

expanding population with enough to

eat is a huge challenge that we must

meet while respecting biodiversity and

taking into account climate change as

matters of the utmost importance.

How we can help

The Integrated Crop Management

System adopts a whole-farm, long-

term strategy rather than providing a

quick fix that can be applied to one

field for one season, striking a much

better balance between business

imperatives and best environmental

practice. We have developed an

approach to ICM, in response to

the many issues currently facing

UK agriculture, which has been

successfully adopted by our farmer-

clients. Our practice safeguards the

environment and the quality, quantity

and price of produce; the profitability

of the farm and the adoption of new

techniques are essential to preserving

the overall stability of agriculture.

Issues such as crop protection, wildlife

and landscape management, directed

use of fertilisers, waste avoidance,

enhanced energy efficiency and

minimised pollution exemplify ICM.

We have piloted and developed many

successful schemes, for example

selectively controlling pernicious

weeds in hedgerows while leaving

the native flora intact and helping

re-establish the barn owl in Cheshire.

We received a lifetime award from

the mid-Cheshire barn owl group for

the latter. Moreover, we continue to

protect beneficial insects in crops while

removing pests that would destroy

them by ensuring that field margins

are protected.

We undertake many collaborative

research projects and partnerships to

investigate how best to produce food

safely with minimum environmental

impact and try to share our industry-

leading applied research and

practices with our buyers’ group. We

collaborate with a research group at

the Centre for Global Eco-innovation

at Lancaster University, investigating

how to increase crop yields and

reduce greenhouse gases. Our work

at Manchester Metropolitan University

continues to look at how stress can

be minimised to improve yields and

maximise the efficiency of fertilisers.

In the past five years we have won

another five Green Apple World

Ambassador awards for pioneering

work on hedgehog conservation, bee

protection, techniques to encourage

plants to defend themselves against

disease and for our education

and training of farmers, university

students and fellow agronomists in

farming approaches that protect the

environment.

Help the Hedgehog –

an ECM conservation

initiative

Farmers

produce our

food and

provide one of

the very

foundations of

our society

“

3ENVIRONMENTAL CROP MANAGEMENT |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Addressing challenges

Research and development by our

multinational supplier partners has

led to improvements in sprayer

technology, newer, greener pesticides

and alternative methods of protecting

our crops. Advances in seed varieties

are leading to improved yields and

better use of resources such as

water and fertiliser. However, some

crop protection products are being

withdrawn from use by legislators

without an assessment of the negative

impacts on potential crop losses. For

example, weed and pest control in

carrots is almost impossible following

the withdrawal of a licence for several

key agrochemicals. There is a serious

risk that the gap between withdrawing

older products and the introduction of

newer, more environmentally benign,

alternatives will lead to severe crop

losses and food shortages.

Delays in introducing new products

have a negative impact on productivity

and should be addressed as a matter

of urgency to help protect crops

more efficiently, with minimal effect

on the environment. Uncontrollable

disease epidemics could lead to food

shortages and more food poverty.

Decisions regarding the continued use

of existing products need to assess

the scientific evidence and review

the impacts on productivity as well

as the environment, and identify the

future agronomy options rather than

be driven by political expediency. Our

regulatory system needs to move back

to a risk-based system, as the current

hazard-based system is leading to the

loss of key crop protection products

essential to the ability of UK farms to

produce the food we need.

The future of the UK as an

independent, self-determining

country presents an opportunity to

review our approach to agriculture.

UK farming, in spite of the increased

pressures of reduced land to farm

and reduced tools to farm with, will

meet the pressures of sustaining food

production, and develop farm systems

that put the environment at the heart

of farming, and UK agriculture should

be recognised for the delivery not

just of food but also of good practice

such as soil management for optimal

fertility, reduction in emissions,

conservation of wildlife and an ability

to adapt and innovate.

We undertake

many

collaborative

research

projects and

partnerships

to investigate

how best to

produce food

safely

“

ECM continues to

provide safe food from

crops grown with

maximum environmental

respect

www.ecmltd.co.uk

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Michael Gove.

Rt Hon Michael Gove's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Michael Gove

This year's Parliamentary Review comes at a momentous time for parliament, as we collectively determine the destiny of the United Kingdom.

On October 31, the UK will leave the European Union. The successful implementation of this process is this government's number-one priority.

Three years after a historic referendum vote, we will deliver on the decisive mandate from the British people. Trust in our democracy depends on it. Until that final hour, we will work determinedly and diligently to negotiate a deal, one that abolishes the backstop and upholds the warm and close relationship we share with our friends, allies and neighbours in the EU. But in the event that the EU refuses to meet us at the table, we must be prepared to leave without a deal.

As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, it is my job to lead on this government's approach, should that scenario happen. Preparing for Brexit is my department's driving mission. But while I am leading this turbocharged effort, the whole of government is committed to this endeavour.

Ministers across Whitehall are working together to ensure that every possibility is considered, every plan is scrutinised and every provision is made. A daily drumbeat of meetings means that we are holding departments accountable, so that preparations are completed on time.

The chancellor has confirmed that all necessary funding will be made available. And we have mobilised thecivil service, assigning 15,000 of our most talented civil servants to manage our exit from the EU.

We will make sure that on November 1, there is as little disruption to national life as possible. Our trade relationships will continue to thrive, thanks to agreements with countries around the world worth £70 billion. Our country will remain secure, thanks to nearly 1,000 new officers posted at our borders. And the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us can remain confident, with absolute certainty, of their right to remain in the UK.

Above all, our goal is to be transparent. Soon, we will launch a public information campaign so that citizens, communities and businesses are ready and reassured about what will happen in the event of “no deal”.

In my first few weeks in this role, I have travelled to ports and tarmacs, borders and bridges, all across the UK –from the seaside of Dover to the rolling green hills of County Armagh. I have heard from business owners and border officials, farmers and hauliers. They are ready to put an end to uncertainty. And they are ready to embrace the opportunities ahead.

Our departure from the EU will be a once in a lifetime chance to chart a new course for the United Kingdom. Preparing for that new course will be a herculean effort. But this country has made astounding efforts before. We can do it again.

Rt Hon Michael Gove
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster