[Fieldfare]

The EU edicts regarding controlling/banning of pesticides/herbicides are to protect the wider environment and human health so are a very good thing. There are many instances of our environment becoming cleaner due to these new laws. In any case nettles, docks and thistles can be easily kept at bay using topping/grazing... and as smallholders/farmers we should try and work with nature a bit more and tolerate their untidiness. In most cases they do not affect the bottom line at all.

[juliem]

Nonsense....EU are just making it virtually impossible for someone to keep a few acres of land tidy.....I have ten acres of land..rented out for sheep with the original hedges/ditches from the 18th century....lots of mature woodland/oak trees.It is a haven of wild life.....but I do need to hand spray small patches of nettles/thistles. (Lots of these in the ditches for the wildlife) .Unless I can keep the land tidy I will have to sell the land.Very likely to be bought by a farmer who would tear out all the hedges/ and plough up.or build an intensive poultry unit/or have a equine centre.This has happened all around me!!!
I know farmers who were given EU grants to rip orchards out years ago and have been given grants recently to replant them.The EU  has wasted millions of our money on giving farmers grants in this country which has done nothing to contribute to growing food .