Pesticide usage - rodenticides on arable farms 2018: survey results

Appendix 1 - Estimated rodenticide use and supplementary data tables

Table 1 Total estimated occurrence of rodenticide use on arable farms in Scotland - 2018

Number of occurrences of each rodenticide formulation and percentage of total occurrences

Formulation	Number of occurrences	Percentage of total specified occurrences
Alphachloralose(1)	41	<1
Brodifacoum	364	6
Bromadiolone	3,209	57
Coumatetralyl(1)	27	<1
Difenacoum	1,844	33
Difethialone(1)	94	2
Warfarin(1)	26	<1
Unspecified Rodenticide(2)	827
Total (excluding unspecified use)	5,606
FGARs(3)	53	1
SGARs(4)	5,511	98
Non-anticoagulant(5)	41	<1

(1) Estimates are based on <10 occurrences in the sample and should therefore be treated with caution

(2) Rodenticides are recorded as unspecified when use has been recorded but product information is not available

(3) First generation anticoagulant compounds: coumatetralyl, warfarin

(4) Second generation anticoagulant compounds: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone

(5) Non-anticoagulant rodenticide compounds: alphachloralose

Table 2 Total estimated weight of rodenticides used on arable farms in Scotland 2018

Weight of rodenticides applied (kg), expressed as formulations (combination of active substances) and products (active substances, bait and other co-formulants)

Formulation	Formulation weight	Product weight
	Kg	Kg	Percentage of total specified use
Alphachloralose(1)	3.23	81	<1
Brodifacoum	0.07	1,395	3
Bromadiolone	1.76	35,258	72
Coumatetralyl(1)	0.09	230	<1
Difenacoum	0.55	11,020	23
Difethialone(1)	0.02	629	1
Warfarin(1)	0.04	79	<1
Total(2)	5.75	48,691
FGARs(3)	0.13	309	<1
SGARs(4)	2.39	48,302	99
Non-anticoagulant(5)	3.23	81	<1

(1) Estimates are based on <10 occurrences in the sample and should therefore be treated with caution

(2) Not including unspecified rodenticides

(3) First generation anticoagulant compounds: coumatetralyl, warfarin

(4) Second generation anticoagulant compounds: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone

(5) Non-anticoagulant rodenticide compounds: alphachloralose

Table 3 Farmer and PCP response to training and compliance questions - 2018

Response to questions regarding training and compliance with best practice of rodenticide use provided by farmers and pest control professionals responsible for rodenticide baiting on the surveyed farms

Question	Percentage yes response
	Farmer (n=72)(1)	PCPs (n=20)(2)
1) Have you attended a training course on rodenticide use?(3)	*36	*95
2) Are quantity and location of baits recorded?	94	100
3) Are bait points protected from non-target animals?	99	100
4) Is bait regularly inspected?	100	100
5) Is bait removed after targeted baiting periods?	75	65
6) Are rodent carcasses searched for and removed?(4)	90	100

(1) Not all farmers returned compliance data. These farmers represent 99% of the 73 farmers who conducted their own rodenticide baiting during this survey

(2) Not all PCPs returned compliance data. These 20 PCPs represented 65 per cent of the contractors encountered during this survey and collectively conducted baiting on 52 per cent of those farms using a PCP

(3) Training uptake by farmer here refers to all rodenticide use training, this differs from that reported in Table 5 which only records training that is compliant with rodenticide stewardship and allows professional rodenticide products to be purchased

(4) 58 farmers gave a response in relation to carcass disposal method. The most common method was burying (48 per cent), others included landfill (26 per cent), incineration (24 per cent) and disposal in dung middens (2 per cent). Carcass disposal methods were not collected from PCPs

* Responses marked with an asterisk are significantly different between famers and PCPs (P<0.001)

Table 4 Farmer response to farm operation questions - 2018

Question	Percentage yes response
	All farms (n=267)(1)	Farms using rodenticides (n=207)(1)	Farms not using rodenticides (n=60)(1)
1) Is your farm a member of a quality assurance scheme	94	*96	*85
2) Is livestock kept on your farm?	59	62	47
3) Do you have a pig unit on your farm?	2	2	0
4) Do you have a poultry unit on your farm?	1	1	2
5) Do you have a grain store?	66	*74	*37

(1) Not all farmers returned farm operation data. These data represent 98 per cent of the farms sampled overall, 98 per cent of those using rodenticide and 100 per cent of those not using rodenticides

* Responses marked with an asterisk are significantly different between farms that did and did not use rodenticides (P<0.002)

Table 5 Farmer response to rodenticide stewardship questions - 2018

Question	Percentage yes response (n=72)(1)
1) Are you aware of the rodenticide stewardship scheme?	86
2a) Have you completed a stewardship compliant training course?	25
2b) If no, do you intend to complete a stewardship compliant training course in the future?	21
3) Have you purchased any rodenticides since April 2016(2)	90

(1) Not all farmers responded to stewardship questions. These farmers represent 99% of the 73 farmers who conducted their own rodenticide baiting during this survey

(2) The farmers who purchased rodenticides post April 2016 (90% of respondents) used a variety of methods to obtain them, some farmers used more than one method. The majority of purchases were made by proving membership of a compliant QA scheme (69 per cent of purchases), followed by production of a stewardship compliant training certificate (17 per cent), purchase of amateur products (4 per cent) and purchasing non-stewardship products (3 per cent, these were available until September 2016).