CORE ACTIVITIES OF THE PESTICIDE USAGE GROUP
	The Section undertakes regular surveys of pesticide usage throughout Scotland covering a wide range of agricultural and horticultural crops and stored products. Detailed quantitative and qualitative information on the use of agricultural pesticides form the essence of published reports. These data  provide the regulatory bodies with an important feedback mechanism for the official process of pesticide registration and review. In short, the surveys provide a snapshot of the type, amount and extent of all pesticides used on individual crops during a particular growing season. A 4-year cycle of surveys ensures that all crops grown in Scotland are covered at least once, with the more important crops such as the arable group, comprising all cereal crops, potatoes and oilseed rape, being surveyed biennially.  The reports detail pesticide usage on each crop in terms of weight, area and percentage treated with a specific active ingredient or mixture of ingredients if co-formulated.
Published Reports During the 2007/08 winter period the pesticide survey group undertook several surveys.  The main survey focused on pesticide usage on vegetables crops for human consumption covering the 2007 growing season.  The total recorded area of vegetable crops in Scotland was 11,818 hectares.  Overall for vegetable crops, fungicides were applied to approximately 41,000ha, herbicides to 32,300ha and insecticides to 28,200ha, corresponding to 17.7,  26.2  and  2.8 tonnes of active ingredients respectively. Latest Reports      Access full report list