The Soil Association (SA) has been accused of scaremongering after the organic certification body called for a ban on pre-harvest glyphosate.

It comes after the association wrote to UK millers and supermarkets asking them to avoid flour made from milling wheat treated with glyphosate in the run-up to harvest.

The letter follows a similar call to ban pre-harvest glyphosate on milling wheat last year.

See also: Soil Association lobbies for pre-harvest glyphosate ban

It is sad to see one part of the farming industry reduced to baseless scaremongering about a tool that safely delivers so much for farmers, the environment and consumers – and has done so for over 40 years Mark Buckingham, Monsanto

Glyphosate has been the subject of controversy since the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded it was a “probable” carcinogen.

But the European Food Safety Authority has since ruled glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard.

Even so, the SA argues pre-harvest glyphosate is “fundamentally wrong”.

Policy director Peter Melchett said: “For users of UK flour, the key step must be to ban the use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest desiccant on crops due to enter the human food chain.”

Food safety

Millers organisation Nabim and the Federation of Bakers insist they take food safety seriously.

Both said they worked closely with suppliers to ensure that any glyphosate residues fall within safety limits and do not pose a risk to human health.

Recent data suggests a pre-harvest application of glyphosate can increase cereal harvesting work rates by 10% or more by reducing weeds and evening up ripening – freeing-up labour and machinery for other operations as well as saving diesel costs.

Farmers are told to ensure glyphosate residues are kept to a minimum and follow good agricultural practice to ensure they are below the maximum residue level.

Further safety measures include harvesting crops no sooner than seven days after treatment.

Baseless scaremongering

Monsanto spokesman Mark Buckingham said: “It is sad to see one part of the farming industry reduced to baseless scaremongering about a tool that safely delivers so much for farmers, the environment and consumers – and has done so for over 40 years.”

Mr Buckingham also questioned how the association could justify its criticism of glyphosate based on an opinion by the IARC when the same agency had put alcohol and processed meat in a higher cancer hazard category.

He added: “Glyphosate is an essential tool for safe, sustainable and productive agriculture for many farmers in the UK and globally.

“The Soil Association’s prejudice against modern chemistry means its members don’t use glyphosate.”