A year after the launch of a project to find solutions to the UK’s £45m slug control problem in agriculture, farmers are being invited to take part in the next stage of research trials.

The £2.6m Defra-funded “Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience against Slugs” (Slimers) project aims to reduce reliance on pellet use through precision application of treatments to slug hotspots, and advance alternative biological control.

It follows a ban on metaldehyde, which was used to control slugs for decades.

See also: Farmers warned of combine fire risk ahead of harvest

So far, the data on slug behaviour collected from 26 farms across England and Scotland has been branded “remarkable” following the first year of the project.

The British On-Farm Innovation Network (Bofin) is now recruiting more farmers, who will be paid to take part in on-farm monitoring and trials to test the results.

“We were delighted with the quality and quantity of data collected in year one, which really proves how valuable farmer-led research is,” said Bofin founder Tom Allen-Stevens

“Now it’s all about taking what we’ve learned and testing it on more farms in different locations, and we’ll be paying farmers to do that work for us.”

Year two aims

Prof Keith Walters from Harper Adams University says year two of the project will be about working with real-life farming situations to understand the commercial viability of new techniques to control the pest.

“We know that slugs gather in patches and that this is related to soil factors,” Prof Walters said.

“Populations are higher in the middle of the patch than at the edge, so we need to understand better where the boundaries are.

“This could then guide where the pelleter is turned on and off for maximum effect.

“We are also looking at soil maps to see if this data, which is already routinely collected by farmers, will create a picture of where slugs are likely to gather,” he said.

To find out more about the project, or to apply to take part, head to slimers.co.uk