Mr. Pat Farrell:

We are talking about crop protection. You might use synthetic or chemical active products to control pests and disease. In Keelings, our first thing is prevention. It is a bit like food waste. You try to prevent it in the first place with very good varieties, agronomy and growing practices but after that, no matter what you do, there is a certain amount of pests and disease. Our primary action is to use biological controls, integrated pest management and natural predators, which we have on the farm. You can buy in other predators so you do not have to use chemical control. Notwithstanding all that, you have to use a certain amount of controls to control pests and disease. It is no different from a human - you may not want to take medicine but you are forced to at a certain stage. We use that but we do not have the same access as other countries. Holland, for example, which is in the same climate zone as us, has access to a broader range of active products than we have, for various reasons. We need a level playing field. If the retailer says to us that a Dutchman can produce it more cheaply, we say yes, but we point out that he has access to different crop protection products from us. We are in a Single Market, as I said when I spoke about energy or work permits. If a grower in Holland has access to certain chemical actives, so should we. To elaborate on that, we spend a huge amount on both natural pollinators like bees. We have up to 90 hives on the farm. We would never use a chemical product that would harm those bees because it would harm our crop. We would have nothing to pollinate. Notwithstanding all that, at times you need to be strategic and surgical. You might use a chemical active just to get on top of a pest or disease. We need fair access, like everyone else in the European Union.