Glyphosate would be missed beyond the farm gate

We’ll miss it if it goes! These could well be words heard if glyphosate is not re-registered in the EU after mid-December. Farmers will certainly miss it as an historically important active for the control of scutch grass; a very useful tool in the reseeding of grassland; as a critical component of enhanced environmentally sensitive soil care systems; and as a vital element of the recently promoted and financially supported catch cropping under GLAS.

Frequently heralded as the biggest single herbicide in the world by virtue of its importance in Roundup Ready crops, it is important to remember that it is used in all walks of life and by hundreds of millions of people as a convenient and seemingly safe way to kill virtually all vegetation where it is not wanted.

€10m market in Ireland

Perhaps Irish consumers will be surprised to learn that the market for the product here in Ireland is somewhere in excess of €10m per annum. This compares with an estimated EU market value of between €600m and €800m in recent years for glyphosate. These values are based on the volume of active sold at nominal agricultural prices.

However, given the relative cost of the much more diluted amenity or non-professional products, one might assume that the actual total retail value might be higher than that, even in Ireland. Amateur products in the market include ready-to-use squeeze spray containers and gels that require no preparation. Some are actually branded for retail outlets such as B&Q.

Up to recently, hardware stores, garden centres and even supermarkets were selling various formulations of professional-use glyphosate products for home use. While there is no absolute number for the proportion of the total quantity sold as professional product for farming use, it is possible that non-professional products were as much as 5% of the total market a few years ago.

The quantity used for amenity use would have been higher when consumers could purchase 5l cans in retail outlets. However, changes relating to the use of all pesticides may have taken the consumer use of glyphosate down below an estimated 2% in more recent years.

161 products

There are 161 different products containing glyphosate registered for use in the Republic of Ireland alone. Many of these may not actually be sold in the market but a number of them are branded for multiple retail outlets. These are being purchased by consumers who have little understanding or perhaps even regard for the safe use of such products.

The question is, what would these people do if these simple, easy solutions were no longer available? Would we see a much less tidy countryside, would we have more crashes due to poor visibility as vehicles enter public roads, etc?

There is little doubt that many things would look quite different in Europe, and perhaps cost more, if glyphosate is removed from the market – both farming and countryside.

Find out more about the history of glyphosate and the current debate surrounding its re-licensing in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

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