Post us slugs says Oxfordshire farmer
It's for a new initiative to work out ways to stop the pests that cost farmers more than £43 million a year.
Last updated 12th Jul 2024
You've heard of snail mail... now hear about slug mail...
An Oxfordshire farmer is asking people to post him your slugs.
Tom Allen-Stevens is an arable farmer and journalist and also part of the British On Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN).
He says slugs cost £43.5 million a year for farmers in damage and to control, and they want to find new ways to do that.
The project is called Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience against Slugs, (SLIMERS).
It's led by BOFIN, partnered with CHAP, AGRIVATION, Harper Adams University, John Innes Centre, and Small Robot Company. It is funded by Defra Farming Innovation Programme, delivered by Innovate UK.
The hope is to develop cost-effective digital autonomous slug monitoring, forecasting and precision-treatment tools.
Slugs may seem harmless but they are arable farming’s biggest pest issue. They causes £43.5M crop damage per year for wheat and oilseed rape in the UK and for which there is one form of control, ferric phosphate pellets.
These are the only way to control them currently and with climate change we have increasing wet weather, which is ideal for slugs.
A type of wheat that slugs seem to hate has already been found according to Tom, but for more tests to be carried out they need your slugs:
"We'll send you a pack that has containers to put the slugs in. It also had full instructions of what to do, a slug ID guide as well and postage paid envelopes as well."
The research is being conducted at The John Innes Centre, located in Norwich, Norfolk.
You can find out more about SLIMERS and becoming a Slug Scout online.