Mr. Mark Hughesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how widespread is the current outbreak of yellow rust in corn crops; if he is satisfied that the application of mixed fungicides is likely to be effective without producing unacceptable ecological risks; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter MillsYellow rust in wheat crops, is now widespread in all southern302W counties from Somerset to East Anglia and severe attacks are also occurring in South Warwickshire, the Eastern Midlands and Northumberland. In other areas slight isolated attacks have been reported.
All fungicide formulations that are being widely used have been cleared for safe use under the Pesticides Safety Precautions Scheme. Thus they are not likely to have any significant ecological effect. Because of the sporadic nature of the disease, and hence the difficulty of conducting long-term field trials, there is only limited information on the effectiveness of the fungicides available. There is, however, some commercial evidence that mixtures are more effective than separate materials.
It is well known that this disease is particularly sensitive to weather conditions. The cool, intermittently wet weather of the last few months has been particularly favourable for its development. A spell of hot dry weather in the next few weeks would be the best check to its spread, but even if this happens yields are likely to be affected.
The Agricultural Development and Advisory Service will, over the next month, be conducting a country wide survey to enable a quantitive assessment to be made of, the total position.