Cherry growers are extremely relieved. Agriculture Minister Piet Adema granted an exemption on Wednesday for the use of the Exirel and Tracer products in 2024. The biological pesticides protect the cherries against the so-called Suzuki fruit fly, which lays eggs in the cherries. Without these resources, the harvest will fail, say the growers, who fear for their future. “We are very grateful, but we need more time for an alternative to protect the cherries,” says Janny Verschure of De Kersenhof in Raamsdonk.
On April 26, Verschure attended a debate in the House of Representatives about the ban with a group of cherry grower women. She was really afraid that she and her husband Hubert would have to quit the company.
“The BBB’s motion to allow the two resources was adopted by the House of Representatives, so we had good hopes. Also because the Minister of Agriculture was quite understanding,” she says. “It’s great that those good hopes have now also been converted into good deeds.”
She also uses Exirel and Tracer to protect her cherries against flies. “We hope for a better way to protect our crops, but research into this often takes years. The Suzuki fruit fly is an alien species and has no natural enemies,” Verschure explains.
“There is no plan B to protect the cherries.”
She therefore hopes that cherry growers will be allowed to continue using these crop protection products until a better alternative is available. “We don’t have a plan B to protect our crops. The Suzuki fruit fly has only been in the Netherlands for about ten years.”
Cherry grower Gina van der Linden previously explained to Omroep Brabant how frustrating it is if you are not allowed to use pesticides:
Verschure and her fellow growers also use nets against the flies. “And that prevents a lot of them, but just like at home, an insect always sneaks in. And those flies then multiply very quickly and that costs you your harvest without Exirel and Tracer.” She wants to have the resources available to protect her harvest.
“These resources are still used in the countries around us.”
Cherry growers were able to use the two products thanks to an exemption from the Ministry of Agriculture. They have also both been approved by the Board for the Authorization of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb). “And they are really very strict. Exirel and Tracer are regularly used in the countries around us. One of the two is even organic,” says the cherry grower from Raamsdonk.
The fact that the minister no longer wanted to grant an exemption was due to negative advice from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). In recent years, it carried out checks on cherry growers and it turned out that they were not complying with the regulations regarding the use of the two pesticides.
“We got through the eye of the needle.”
“We still don’t know where and what exactly was observed by the NVWA in 2021,” says Verschure, a bit frustrated. If used incorrectly, the products could also be dangerous for bees, surface water and bees. “You can bet that we as a sector are on top of ensuring that Exirel and Tracer are used correctly, because we have been through the eye of the needle.”
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