Scottish Pesticide Surveys Database (SCOPES)

Scottish Pesticide Surveys Database (SCOPES)

Search the Scottish Pesticide Surveys (SCOPES) database

 

This search facility currently allows you to search the Scottish Pesticide Surveys (SCOPES) database for arable crops by active substance or active substance group. Arable crops include cereals, oilseeds, potatoes, peas, beans and set-aside (EU abolished compulsory set-aside in 2009).

The results are shown as a table displaying the total area of crop grown in Scotland and the estimated pesticide usage figures for basic area, treated area, weight applied and the percentage of crop treated for a selected active substance (see notes).

The data displayed are for the year selected plus the previous 2 survey years.

These figures are also displayed as a chart and you can choose to display a graph showing the proportion of total use of pesticide by month of application for the selected active substance and year.

At present only Arable Survey data from 2000 onwards are available.  If you require data from earlier arable surveys or from other survey types, please visit our pesticide usage survey reports page or contact us at psu@sasa.gov.scot.

Arable surveys are carried out every 2 years.

Search the Scottish Pesticide Surveys (SCOPES) database

Notes

Pesticide is a broad term covering a range of commercial formulations containing active substances used as herbicides (weed killers), fungicides (mould & fungi killers), growth regulators, insecticides (insect killers) and molluscicides (slug pellets).

Group areas, for example fungicides, are the summed area of all fungicide formulations applied (a formulation is the combination of active substances which are formulated together in a product).

Basic area (ha) is the area of crop which was treated with a given active substance, irrespective of the number of times it was applied to that area.  Basic area values are used to calculate the percentage of crop treated with a given active substance.

Treated area (ha) is the basic area of a crop treated with a given active substance multiplied by the number of applications that area received.  For example, if a ten hectare field is treated with an active substance twice then the basic area for that active substance is 10 hectares and the treated area is 20 hectares.

Weight (kg) is the quantity in kilograms of the selected active substance applied to the crop.

Percentage treated is the percentage area of crop treated with the selected active ingredient.  This is calculated using the basic area.

Please note in the 2012 Arable survey the spring oilseed rape area grown also includes linseed.

Pesticide usage data for spring oilseed rape has not been published in the 2008, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 surveys due to the limited number of crops sampled.  This also applies to field bean data in 2018.  Triticale data is only available for 2010 and 2012.

Please note from January 2018, SCOPES no longer includes the active substance Sulphur in the fungicides totals.  This is in keeping with the published reports.

In the published survey reports some seed treatments were recorded as ‘no information seed treatment’.  This description was used for occasions where the grower was unable to confirm whether the seed had received a treatment.  Please note ‘no information seed treatment’ records have been excluded from SCOPES.  

Unspecified pesticide treatments are included in SCOPES.  Unspecified treatments describe those where a particular treatment was reported by the grower, but they were unable to provide the details of the product used.  For these treatments, we are able to provide and area treated but no quantity of pesticide used since the exact pesticide is unknown.