Firms in the oil extraction from seed industry could soon be dealing with unnecessary pressure on rapeseed supply.
According to Farmers Guardian, many growers are confused about how the new rules on glucosinate levels, which prevent the sowing of seeds with more than 18 micromoles of the substance, will affect farm-saving.
Charles Roberts of Lutterworth-based mobile CYO Seeds (Midlands), who is also chairman of the National Association of Agricultural Contractors mobile seed processing section, said that growers must be made aware that farm-saving for one generation is still permitted under the latest legislation.
"Even though the restrictions will not apply until deliveries of rapeseed to the crushers from the 2013 harvest, it is now only a matter of weeks before farmers will be drilling the crop from which they will want to save the seed for that harvest," he told the publication.
The Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) recently expressed concern that an insecticide-resistant aphid could soon make its way to UK shores from France, with the potential to damage rapeseed crops.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the oil extraction from seed industry includes:
