New Zealand EPA approves Bayer’s Poncho Votivo seed treatment

The New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)has recently approved Bayer New Zealand’s Poncho Votivo seed treatment(clothianidin + Bacillus firmus), a new version of an insecticide used to help protect corn, wheat grass and brassica crops.

Bayer New Zealand’s Poncho Votivo is a seed treatment that will help control pests such as Argentine stem weevil, black beetle, greasy cutworm and parasitic nematodes – that can attack these crops.

It’s a reformulation of an already approved insecticide called Poncho and is applied to seeds at a treatment plant before they’re sown.

“What’s different about Poncho Votivo is that it contains a lower concentration of the neonicotinoid clothianidin, alongside a soil-dwelling micro-organism called Bacillus firmus. This is found naturally in New Zealand soil but has not been used before as an active ingredient in an insecticide,” says Ray McMillan, EPA’s Acting General Manager of Hazardous Substances and New Organisms.

After weighing the risks and benefits of Poncho Votivo following a public hearing in December 2015, the EPA’s decision-making committee approved its use and set specific controls to manage risks to people and environment. It means those applying the insecticide must wear protective clothing and adhere to specific restrictions related to the rate, method and timing of application.

Mr McMillan adds: “This combined insecticide has benefits for the New Zealand environment because it treats two types of pest at once, and farmers are less likely to need a separate soil treatment.”