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Statement on Defra's emergency authorisation decision

23 January 2025

Attributable to Dan Green, Agriculture Director, British Sugar:

“We are disappointed that Defra has rejected our joint application for limited and controlled emergency use of a neonicotinoid seed treatment to protect the UK sugar beet crop from Virus Yellows disease in 2025.

“Moving forward, we can assure our growers that Virus Yellows (VY) control remains the highest priority research area in the UK beet sector, through our long-standing work on the Virus Yellows Pathway. This includes working with plant breeders to improve natural resistance in the crop, on-farm techniques and grower practices, and research into gene editing. Several trials of Integrated Pest Management are showing promise and our project, in collaboration with agricultural biotechnology company Tropic, to explore how gene editing can be used in sugar beet to target Virus Yellows continues to progress well.

“As an industry, we have written to Defra seeking immediate support in the form of a Virus Yellows Resilience Package to mitigate any threat posed by a high Virus Yellows year for this crop and help us move at pace on some of the workstreams and trials in our VY pathway.

“This decision also leaves the UK in conflict with its own trade policy. There is continued tariff free access to the UK market for sugar which has been grown with neonicotinoid plant protection products, undermining our homegrown industry and British sugar beet growers. We will be raising this in our response to the current review into the Autonomous Tariff Quota (ATQ) and future free trade deals.”

• Defra’s press statement can be found here 
• VY control remains the highest priority research area in the UK beet sector. The cross-industry Virus Yellows Taskforce, spearheaded by the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO), NFU Sugar and British Sugar, is investing millions of pounds a year in cutting-edge research into potential control measures such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), novel genetics, sustainable sprays, and genetic editing.
  • Each of these workstreams sits within the ‘Virus Yellows Pathway’ which represents a UK industry roadmap towards long-term, sustainable solutions to the disease.
  • Read more about the UK beet sugar industry’s wider work to tackle Virus Yellows in our Virus Yellows Pathway brochure.
• The industry’s Virus Yellows Resilience Package is asking for support for some of the most promising trials that have been undertaken in the search for long-term solutions to the disease