...The proposal has already been condemned by the National Farmers Union as risking a doubling in the price of vegetables....A compromise hammered out between EU governments and MEPs means a reduced number of 22 toxic substances would be banned from use as crop chemicals. But SNP MEP Alyn Smith said even the compromise was too much. Urging his colleagues to "reflect over the holiday period", he went on: "The proposals which will be presented in January go too far. "Alternatives to many of the chemicals which the legislation proposes to ban have not been fully developed, and are mainly highly-targeted niche options. This often makes them expensive and impracticable, and we can ill afford to make farming more expensive at a time of rising input costs."
...The proposal has already been condemned by the National Farmers Union as risking a doubling in the price of vegetables.
...A compromise hammered out between EU governments and MEPs means a reduced number of 22 toxic substances would be banned from use as crop chemicals.
But SNP MEP Alyn Smith said even the compromise was too much. Urging his colleagues to "reflect over the holiday period", he went on: "The proposals which will be presented in January go too far.
"Alternatives to many of the chemicals which the legislation proposes to ban have not been fully developed, and are mainly highly-targeted niche options. This often makes them expensive and impracticable, and we can ill afford to make farming more expensive at a time of rising input costs."
