Voluntary Initiative exceeds key targets

The Voluntary Initiative (VI) Annual Report, published today, confirms that in its ninth year key VI targets have been met or exceeded.

Established in 2001, the VI promotes responsible pesticide use in UK agriculture and horticulture. Major schemes such as the National Register of Sprayer Operators (NRoSO) and the National Sprayer Testing Scheme (NSTS) and Crop Protection Management Plans (CPMPs) help raise environmental awareness and improve standards of crop protection.

The continued success of the VI shows what can be achieved by industry working together with stakeholders, government and regulators in a Big Society approach to responsible pesticide use, said Professor Barry Dent, Chairman of the VI Steering Group.

I am particularly pleased that leading farm assurance schemes serving the livestock sector have recognised that responsible pesticide use applies to scheme members. In the coming years, livestock farmers who use pesticides will face new domestic and EU regulations. These will require them to adopt higher standards. Through the VI, we have established farmer-led schemes that should ensure livestock farmers can meet these new requirements with the minimum of red tape.

Positive partnerships with the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Campaign for the Farmed Environment have proved very successful and the VI looks forward to building on these partnerships in its tenth year.

The VI annual report can be found at: http://www.voluntaryinitiative.org.uk/_Attachments/Resources/1348_S4.pdf

The Voluntary Initiative (VI), which was set up in 2001, is a programme of measures, agreed with Government, to minimise the environmental impact of pesticides.

The VI has successfully established the National Sprayer Testing Scheme, the National Register of Sprayer Operators and the use of Crop Protection Management Plans as well as trialling and promoting a range of water protection measures. For the year ending March 31 2010 there were 20,253 members of NRoSO, over 13,700 sprayer tests were conducted with coverage of 89.2 per cent of the sprayed area. 1.56 million hectares are covered by a CPMP (including numbers from the LEAF audit) just short of the 1.7 million hectare target. This shortfall is due to CPMPs no longer being an option in the Entry Level Scheme.

The sponsors of The Voluntary Initiative are the Agricultural Engineers Association, Agricultural Industries Confederation, Country Land and Business Association, Crop Protection Association, National Association of Agricultural Contractors, the NFU, NFU Scotland and the Ulster Farmers Union. To date over 86 million has been invested in the scheme by the agricultural industry.