- From December 2023, desiccation of rapeseed with glyphosate is prohibited.
- Do purchasers have the right to ask farmers for a declaration regarding glyphosate residues in rapeseed? – There are no regulations regarding this issue in the law – replied farmer.pl, the Press Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The 2024 harvest is underway. The rapeseed harvest is more and more advanced. Still, many plantations have not been destroyed. This will happen in the coming days. There is a lot of traffic in purchasing companies and fat plants. Everyone is in a hurry. Farmers from rainfall, companies with proper seed intake. However, one of our Readers, rapeseed producers, was wondering about a fact that he had not encountered last year, namely the need to complete a declaration on the lack of residues of the active substance glyphosate in rapeseed seeds. What is it about?
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PSPO: Glyphosate banned in rapeseed desiccation
Statement or contract?
Immediately after obtaining this information, I contacted companies and market representatives unofficially and found out that while fat plants had already included such a provision in their purchase and sale agreements, intermediary companies rely on statements that they usually introduced in this harvest. However, such documents do not apply to all companies, but only to selected companies.
As we were told, each purchaser signs an agreement on the compliance of the goods with current legislation. As we learned unofficially, such a test is expensive, costing about PLN 400, and no one performs it for each batch, or at random in accordance with the company's policy. Because who will pay for it?
Moreover, it is also a kind of security if it turns out that the residue limits of this important and controversial active substance were exceeded in a given batch. As we found out, this is usually done in such a way that the so-called iron tests and up to six months back they can be tested if necessary.
Public opinion is particularly sensitive to possible such information. Such tests were done and there was no data on glyphosate residues in oil.
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Scientists: There are no glyphosate residues in rapeseed oil
Do purchasers have the right to ask farmers for a declaration regarding glyphosate residues in rapeseed?
We asked the Ministry of Agriculture this important question. The answer surprised us very much. Importantly, it was very laconic, but specific.
– There are no regulations regarding this issue in the law – the Press Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development responded briefly.
Interesting.
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Desiccation of rapeseed is prohibited this year. Are there other possibilities?
Why has the topic of glyphosate residue become so important?
Most likely due to changes in regulations regarding the ban on desiccation of rapeseed.
We would like to remind you that on December 16, 2023, EC Implementing Regulation No. 2023/2660 of November 28, 2023 on the renewal of the approval of the active substance glyphosate entered into force, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and in amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011, which explicitly limits the herbicide use of glyphosate while literally prohibiting the use "for drying in order to control the timing of harvesting or to optimize threshing".
To put it simply, the new regulations of the European Commission extending the possibility of using glyphosate in plant protection products allow the use of this active substance only as a herbicide. But it prohibits the desiccation of rapeseed.
Importantly, this is the first rapeseed harvesting season when this ban is in force, so companies are paying more attention to it.
The National Association of Producers of Rapeseed and Protein Crops once estimated that in Poland approximately 15% of rapeseed plants required equalization of ripening before harvest. its cultivation area. Therefore, as we learn unofficially, in the acceptance contracts, fat plants paid attention to the year of seed harvest, because plantations from 2023 could still be treated with preparations based on glyphosate.
Only in this situation is the response of the Ministry of Agriculture most surprising. Is my interpretation of shifting the responsibility or costs onto the farmer, which he bears anyway, crucial? After all, it is the farmer who is responsible, as I wrote earlier, for the compliance of the goods with current legislation, also as I wrote regarding the register with the State Sanitary Inspectorate. What is your opinion? In my opinion, this is another paperwork that farmers, but also purchasing companies, want to avoid.
