Agriculture wants to fight strawberries attacks by using banned pesticides

Norwegian strawberries.Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

Norwegian Agricultural Consulting wants permission to use pesticides that were banned in the 90s to combat fungus outbreak that is destroying strawberry crops in the south of the country.

The fungus botrytis have become resistant to current agents in several places, and agriculture fears that resistance could spread, newspaper Nationen.
– There is not so much of new chemical compounds that we can use, but old fungicides that it has not developed resistance to, can be used. We are working to bring back some of the old fungicides,  technical coordinator  in Norwegian Agricultural counseling, Sigrid Mogan, says. One of the fungicides is captan, which was banned due to suspicion that it could be carcinogenic. The agent is still used in the EU, Canada and the United States.

– If the resistance problem is extensive,  the current regulations allows for an exemption on the use of pesticides which have been taken out of the market,  Mr Terje Hall Country (FRP) in Agriculture and Food said. He met Norwegian Farmers’ Union and Agderbær to talk about the extraordinary strawberries situation on Monday.
The FSA, which will look into any applications for exemption, says that it will take into account the serious resistance situation in its assessments.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today