AgroPages-New Zealand EPA: Fungicide joins the fungus fight-Agricultural news

A fungicide that will help protect New Zealand’s world-leading arable farming industry has been approved for use by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Elatus Plus will be used to help control a range of fungal diseases such as speckled leaf blotch, glume blotch, leaf rust and stripe rust in wheat.

Resistance to fungicides is of increasing concern to arable farmers who harvest around 400,000 tonnes of wheat each year. This is used to produce high quality ingredients for the domestic food industry.

Without new fungicides, farmers have limited options available to them to control diseases that threaten the quality and yields of New Zealand’s wheat crops.

Elatus Plus includes the active ingredient solatenol, also known as benzovindiflupyr, which has not previously been approved under the HSNO Act, and is not a component in any existing approved formulation.

Dr Fiona Thomson-Carter, General Manager Hazardous Substances and New Organisms said: “In determining such applications, the EPA’s Decision-Making Committee (DMC) considers a full range of impacts on human health, the economy and New Zealand’s unique environment. This includes, for example, native flora, fauna, insects, ground water and any Māori concerns. In this instance, the DMC concluded that, when used with the assigned controls, Elatus Plus would deliver benefits to the farming community and the economy that would outweigh any risks to human health and the environment.”

The EPA decides on applications for the release of hazardous substances under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act. We assess the benefits, risks and costs of hazardous substances in safeguarding people and managing the environment.