‘Slug sleuth’ farmers in England help develop prediction tool to cut back on pesticide use

Farmers believe they have a new weapon in their age-old battle against the slugs that destroy their crops: modern technology. Slug prediction maps, which have been created by computer models as part of an research project, are now helping growers to better target the use of pesticides, saving them money and reducing environmental harm. Slug damage is not just frustrating – as many gardeners will profess – but it is also expensive for arable farmers, with damage to wheat and oilseed rape crops estimated to cost almost £44m a year in the UK. The gastropod mollusc grazes on the young leaves of emerging cereal crops and has also been known to eat barley, oat and wheat seeds. Slugs also damage potatoes and can have a huge impact on vegetable crops, as whole fields sometimes have to be abandoned if there are signs of an infestation. The monitoring work is being carried out as part of the entertainingly named Slimers project – which stands for strategies leading to improved management and enhanced resilience to slugs. Farmers were recruited to work alongside scientists to increase understanding of the slug’s behaviour by setting up traps on their land. Photograph: Slimers The three-year, £2.6m scheme , which began in 2023 and comes to an end in late August, is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network. …