Pesticides Stakeholder Group minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

Chair

• Jackie Hughes, Scottish Government

Attendees

• Jim Fairlie, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity
• Debbie Kessell, Scottish Government
• Romy Strachan, Scottish Government
• Alanis Maciver, Scottish Government
• Gillian Reay, Scottish Government
• Katie Viezens, Scottish Government
• Craig Davies, Scottish Government
• Celine Delabre, NatureScot
• Sacha White, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)
• Ian MacDougall, Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC)
• John Murrie, Agrovista
• Jenny Brunton, British Agricultural Bureau, Brussels
• Colin Palmer, Confederation of Forest Industries
• John Feege, Co-op
• Joanna McTigue, Horticulture Crop Protection UK Ltd
• Alison Lees, James Hutton Institute
• Dave Bell, National Register of Sprayer Operators (NRoSO)
• David Michie, NFUS
• Greg Dawson, Scottish Agronomy
• Amy Geddes, Scottish Voluntary Initiative / Cereal farmer representative
• Neil Havis, SRUC
• Neal Evans, Voluntary Initiative

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Matters arising

The minutes from PSG15 (held on 18th September 2025) had previously been agreed.

The updated action log was circulated to members prior to the meeting. Currently one outstanding action in relation to:

• PSG14-04: AIC will follow up and confirm availability of the links to guidance in relation to what products can be used on cover crops.

The Chair noted that Alanis Maciver has resumed secretariat duties for this group and should be the main contact for any issues.

Scottish Government Updates

A Scottish Government written update was provided to the group in advance of the meeting.  In addition to the update, the following points were highlighted:

• Scottish Plant Health Centre conference – a workshop was held at the October 2025 conference with the aim of supporting delivery of the UK Pesticides National Action Plan, particularly in relation to identifying knowledge and control gaps, including potential areas for research and innovation funding for future Plant Health Centre projects. The report from the workshop will be circulated in due course and group members are encouraged to provide feedback. 
• SPS agreement –The Chair confirmed that SG is working closely with DEFRA colleagues and other devolved governments to understand potential changes and the impacts of alignment on pesticide regulation. The Minister reiterated that whilst negotiations are ongoing there is a huge importance for group members to highlight Scotland specific issues which help provide clarity when discussing at a UK level and ensuring that Scottish issues are accurately represented.   
• Pesticides Residues in Food Committee: the SG written update notified group members that the Pesticides Residues in Food (PRiF) Committee will be wound down and that in future, any expert advice required would be sought from the Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) and other sources. It was queried if there is Scottish representation on the ECP. SG confirmed that the ECP represents the interests of all governments across the UK and that a Scottish Government official is an assessor on the committee to consider ECP advice from a Scottish perspective.
• Horticulture Crop Protection UK Ltd stated that information on EAMUs and emergency authorisations in relation to the horticulture sector were also accessible via the HCP website: Latest EAMUs and Emergency Authorisations - Horticulture Crop Protection UK Limited   

Action: SG to share the Plant Health Conference October 2025 workshop report with the group, once available, for feedback.

Open Discussion/Roundtable

British Agricultural Bureau (BAB), which represents the four UK farming unions and based in Brussels notified the group that the Commission: has published a simplification of food and feed safety rules, including the speeding up on biological approvals (which would apply to the UK under an SPS agreement). The simplification proposal:

• makes approvals system more agile and reactive by removing the requirement for the systematic renewal of many active substance approvals based on time (excluding the most hazardous), with renewals and targeted reassessments carried out on substances when there are scientific reasons to do so;
• encourages uptake and development of more sustainable pesticides through establishing a simpler procedure to identify low-risk active substances;
• enables farmers to have a wider choice for plant protection products with simpler procedures for basic substances (e.g. vinegar, mustard seed powder, baking powder) for plant protection and accelerating the authorisation of products containing substances targeting particularly damaging pests.  
• provides technical and scientific support from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to the Member State leading a risk assessment, to significantly reduce delays and provide clarity more quickly on necessary risk-management options;
• facilitates the authorisation of low-risk pesticides in multiple Member States, to create more equal availability of such products for farmers;
• sets out how the Commission will identify certain types of drones for spraying pesticides, with potential to lower the exposure of humans and the environment to pesticides compared to land-based spraying.

BAB also confirmed that, in relation to the SPS agreement, it has been working with industry on substances which are approved in GB but not in the EU and highlighted that a number of member states are pushing for the Commission to speed up approval of those substances. There was a similar situation for feed additives when the Swiss agreement was negotiated and Switzerland had additives approved in advance of the EU.

Scottish Agronomy stressed the importance, from a practitioners perspective, of continuing to engage with industry in relation to the SPS agreement discussions. A potential no transition scenario is a real concern for a range of key crops in Scotland.

The Chair confirmed that SG is looking at specific Scottish impacts, using Pesticide Usage Survey data, to determine impacts of various scenarios where there may be a disproportionate impact to Scotland. The analysis will be shared with the group once completed and once we have more certainty on the timing of implementation of the SPS agreement.

NatureScot highlighted the UK-wide consultation on combinable crops contracts: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/supply-chain-fairness/combinable-crops/ and encouraged members to complete it and share it with relevant colleagues. 

NFUS stated that the NFUS Supply Chain Strategy will shortly be released and contains details of their support for farmer co-operation to help Scottish farmers retain value within the supply chain and in Scotland's rural economy: NFU Scotland | /policy-strategy.aspx

Voluntary Initiative notified the Group of their ‘resistance roadshow’ which is currently taking place, in collaboration with AHDB and other organisations. There will be 8 meetings across the UK, all free of charge. The Scottish meeting is scheduled for 27th January 2026 in Glenrothes. There is another scheduled for 10th February 2026 in Northumberland, which may be more convenient for some of this group. Sign up is available via the AHDB website: The Resistance Roadshow – Scotland | AHDB

The Chair highlighted SASA’s Seed Potato Roadshows are taking place during the last week of January, venues include Perth, Brechin, Banff, Inverness and the Borders.

Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting has been confirmed for Wednesday 4th March and a calendar invite will be issued in due course.