Have a question? Contact us
Fill out the form and we will provide an answer or consultation as soon as possible.
Australian sugarcane growers will have two years to completely stop using the herbicide paraquat on this crop. The decision was made by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), which considers the use of the substance on sugarcane an unacceptable risk to birds foraging in treated fields.
In June the APVMA released a review of paraquat and diquat, substantially reducing the permitted application rates of these substances for most field crops. For sugarcane, the regulator provided for the deregistration of the product after a transition period.
The APVMA said it had separately assessed each paraquat use pattern under current environmental standards. According to the authority’s findings, previously permitted methods of application on sugarcane create acute and chronic exposure risks for birds. Therefore, these use patterns were not retained on the list of permitted product label uses.
The regulator acknowledged that farmers would likely need to change their approaches to weed control. At the same time, the APVMA assigned the issue of the availability of alternatives and the economic consequences of such changes to the responsibility of growers, advisers, the industry and state governments.
Canegrowers chief executive Dan Galligan said the lack of a replacement is causing concern among growers. Paraquat is used at an early stage of planting because it quickly kills weeds and does not remain in the soil, allowing young cane to establish roots.
According to Galligan, Sugar Research Australia is searching for suitable alternatives, but there is no timeframe for their emergence. He suggested that changing the cultivation system could require greater use of other herbicides and potentially increase sediment losses from fields.
After the restrictions are introduced, paraquat may still be used in the same fields for fallow areas, field edges and firebreaks, but not directly on sugarcane.
More details: https://ua.news/en/agro/virobnikam-tsukrovoyi-trostini-v-avstraliyi-dadut-dva-roki-na-vidmovu-vid-parakvatu