Within figures in this chapter that give details of fungicides, product examples are given along with the dose rate in grams per hectare and, in parentheses, the number of applications permitted at the time of publication of the text

Introduction

Crop protection in the intensive farming systems of the EU is mainly achieved with pesticides. The use of fungicides on crops has increased greatly in the UK since accession to the EU (then the EEC) in 1972. Surveys by staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the UK in the early 1970s showed that fewer than 20% of barley and 10% of wheat crops received applications of fungicides. In 2008 the Food and Environmental Research Agency (FERA) found that fungicides were the most extensively used pesticides on arable crops in the UK, with over 95% of crops being treated with one or more fungicidal compounds. Fungicides are routinely applied to field crops, with cereals such as wheat and barley receiving two or more applications during each growing season: potatoes may receive ten or more applications of fungicides in a single growing season to deter attacks by late blight. Where fungicides are used extensively on fruit and vegetable crops to prevent rots, scabs, grey mould and other diseases that may affect the appearance of crop produce, several applications may be made during the growing season, often close to harvest.