It is reported by uk.news.yahoo.

Last week, Defra refused an application for beet growers to temporarily use a neonicotinoid seed treatment called Cruiser SB to protect their crops from aphids which carry virus yellows disease.

Neonicotinoids were banned by the EU in 2019 due to their potential impact on the health of bees, other pollinators and the wider environment, but the previous Conservative administration had granted emergency authorisations for Cruiser SB to be used under strict controls if a high virus threshold was forecast.

But this year, the Labour government refused the sugar industry's application due to "clear and abundant evidence that this neonicotinoid is extremely toxic to pollinators such as bees".

The Norwich-based British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) says this means "on-farm hygiene will be critical" in 2025, as no other seed treatments are approved or commercially available for the control of aphids.

It encourages all growers to "remove and destroy all potential sources of aphids and virus", such as in beet spoilage, cleaner loader sites and cover crops on fields near to sugar beet or destined to be planted with the crop - ideally six weeks before sowing.

In an advisory bulletin to growers, the BBRO said: «The good news, compared to recent years, is that January 2025 has been relatively cool, with several significant frost events for many, and this will have helped decrease overwintering populations of aphids».

The BBRO is working closely with the insect survey team at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire and says it will update the industry with the latest virus yellows forecasts and aphid first flight data when available, to "ensure everybody is aware of the potential risk of virus yellows and the timing of the first aphids into the crop".