AFTER the loss of reliable chemical controls, experts at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) are advising farmers to start planning if they want to limit leather-jacket damage to crops and grassland in the autumn and spring.
The advice follows the EU ban on chlorpyrifos, a major insecticide used to control the population of the destructive grubs.
The loss in January of the only permitted insecticide effective against leatherjackets on agricultural land has been a major blow to Scottish farmers trying to control the damage done to crop roots by the larvae of crane flies.