British Sugar
Please back wildlife-friendly farmers
Consumers want neonic-free sugar. More farmers want to be neonic-free.
In 2024, The Wildlife Trusts launched a petition addressed to British Sugar which asked the company to support farmers who choose not to use neonics. These farmers should have the opportunity to market their produce as neonic-free, and be paid a premium for this.
There is plenty of evidence that the way our food is produced can also help nature.
90% of people who signed this petition also shared their personal views about why they want to be able to buy sugar that is neonic-free and why they wanted to see more nature-friendly farming. We have included 101 of these quotes here, given verbatim and unabridged, as indicative of the majority of responses.
Neonic-free sugar is possible
Choosing to grow sugar without neonics is the best way to a wilder future. Many farmers are trying to do this, but they need more support.
It is clear that a growing number of farmers do not want to use damaging neonicotinoids. They should be rewarded for this. Evidence shows:
• In 2022, 29% of sugar beet farmers did not use the neonicotinoid Thiamethoxam after the UK Government approved its use.
• In 2024, this number rose to 42% of sugar beet growers.
We also know that the wider public does not want to buy sugar that has been grown with banned chemicals.
• In 2021 over 100,000 people signed a letter to the then-Prime Minister when this authorisation was first granted, calling for it to be overturned.
• Over 15,000 messages were sent in 2024 to the former UK Farming Minister calling on him to listen to the science and support naturefriendly farmers.
As the sole buyer and processor of UK-grown sugar, British Sugar can go further to help beet farmers who choose not to use neonics.
101 personal views from the public
Why British Sugar should go further to help farmers grow beet without banned chemicals
It is important for the ecosystem to not have harmful pesticides which harm animals, plants and get into the human food chain.
It is simply a no brainer when it comes to making a decision to ban any pesticide which harms crucial nature, bees and insects which our planet relies on for our long-term benefit and survival.
Focus should be on sustainability and the natural environment, use of chemicals that kill bees is short sighted as rather obviously, they are an essential pollinator, without them, long term, we will be in a far worse position and worrying about sugar or lack thereof, will be utter trivia when compared to the environment and ability to grow crops of any type of vast numbers of bees are wiped out by the selfish few who use chemicals for a quick fix now, no thought for later.
We are living in a biodiversity crisis where nearly all species are declining catastrophically. Insects are particularly threatened, from the compound effects of agricultural pollution, habitat loss and climate change. The IUCN list shows that as many as 24% of Europe’s bumblebee species are now threatened with extinction, despite being worth a staggering £690 million per year to the UK economy.
You only have to visit an area where neonics are banned to see how healthy the pollinator population is compared to areas where they are allowed.
We are in a climate and biodiversity crisis. You need nature to farm, just as we all need farmers. With great power comes great responsibility – and it is time that you acted urgently to back nature friendly beet farming.
It must be sensible to pay farmers who do not use these chemicals to produce sugar. The cost cannot be that significant compared to the total price paid to farmers and with a sugar tax deemed to provide health benefits overall.
Many farms have proven that nature friendly farming is the way to go. We’ve got to make good decisions for the long term.
I want insects! Bees are our life blood. Common sense!
Please help our irreplaceable pollinators.
We need our bees for the future of nature and everyone.
I am a beekeeper and it is well documented the risk to bees of neonics.
I want to do the right thing by nature and you should too.
No, no, no....British Sugar! We don’t want you killing off our bees and we don’t want any neonicotinoids killing off our nature. Stop asking the Government for special permission to use these neonics! Listen to the people that care about our wildlife and protect our bees.
Choosing to grow sugar without neonics is the best way to a wilder future. Many farmers are trying to do this, but they need more support.
Stop allowing bee killing pesticides we want neonic-free sugar.
This is wrong. Find another way before it’s too late.
I only use nature friendly products and I am appalled when farmers and other companies have no respect for wildlife.
Please help, support and incentivise farmers to produce neonic-free sugar. We must prioritise protecting our environment. The adverse effects of these chemicals are devastating to our wildlife, especially our bees and have long lasting effects.
We have to look after our wildlife so that it can look after us.
I want to support farmers who do not to use neonics. We need to keep our water clean and our pollinators safe.
Reducing chemicals whilst maintaining yield has been proven to be possible. It will protect wildlife, and ultimately, that will be good for people.
A no brainer. We need bees! I would like to be able to choose neonic-free sugar. I will not buy UK grown sugar until labelling is clear.
We have protested to our MP several times but the use of neonicotinoids is becoming routine and wildlife is suffering.
I have noticed the enormous drop in all insects but bees, both bumble and honey most particularly in past 2-3yrs.
We cannot ever kill an insects anymore if we want to survive.
As an allotment holder and gardener
I have sadly become acutely aware of the fall in bee numbers.
Why not! If there are alternatives and it is good for the planet and wildlife, just do it!
I would chose to buy neonic-free sugar instead of regular sugar if I could.
I want to buy British sugar but not whilst it harms bees. Farmers must be helped to do the best for nature.
I disagree with the use of pesticides and I think it’s wrong that farmers who don’t use them are not recognised.
I love insects and we need to protect them.
Bees are essential for life. Neonics destroy bees. We shouldn’t use them.
If we don’t protect the natural world, there will soon be nothing left.
Bees are Earth’s heroes. We must help NOT kill them.
Large companies like British sugar need to take the lead in conservation.
I don’t want banned pesticides used in the UK (or anywhere).
I want to buy Neonic free sugar… As a first step give us a choice and then let the markets decide.
Nature friendly farming is good for the environment. The use of neonics is proven to be harmful to bees and I am against the use of it.
I want nature-friendly farming to ensure safety to humans and animals.
I am a beekeeper and don’t want dead bees which, after all, are wonderful pollinators.
I am a supporter of organic food and nature and particularly the bees which are under threat from numerous chemicals. There are other ways to produce food!
There is no place for such chemicals in our environment which is fragile and must be protected now and into the future.
I am a hobby beekeeper & am already experiencing how bees are finding it difficult to collect pollen & nectar due to the various severe changes in weather.
I had been using sugar beet to feed our horses but given BS’s insistence on using neonics, I am no longer going to use it until I can buy neonic free sugar beet. I am also encouraging all my horsey friends to do the same.
I am anxious to reduce the use of harmful chemicals.
As a former beekeeper, I am aware of the pressures on bees of all kinds from diseases and climate change. I would like to avoid adding another problem.
If we are to maintain a healthy ecosystem, we must do all we can to protect wildlife. Please consider supporting farmers who choose alternatives to these awful pesticides.
I am a grandparent and want my grandchildren to have a future where they share the environs with the beauty, magic and usefulness of living bees and diverse flying creatures.
The bees, all nature really, desperately need our help.
I am a retired Doctor and am very concerned about the risks of using pesticides both for our wildlife and human population. There is definite evidence of toxicity in both wild bees and honey bees and moderate toxicity to birds. Accumulated pesticides in food stuffs is a significant risk and can be carcinogenic. I understand these chemicals are banned in Europe but these risks are largely ignored in the US and now in the UK!
To use this chemical defies reason.
Life over shareholders profits please.
We are all being challenged to care for our planet and the future of our children. If we carry on in the way we are the future will look bleak!
There are natural alternatives to toxic chemicals and as a Naturopathic
Practitioner in training I am convinced that chemicals are ruining our planet and our bodies. It is hypocrisy for a government to tell us they want people to look after the planet and then allow a chemical that kills bees and harms aquatic life, and it beggars the question what else are they allowing?
These poisonous chemicals should not be used as they damage pollinators.
We need bees, wasps & moths, together they pollinate most of our crops.
I am an academic research scientist who actively works on bumblebee behaviour, and we have conducted many experiments that demonstrate in multiple ways that neonicotinoids are harmful to them. Why hurt the thing that is there to help?
I want to protect our insects and the vital part of the food chain that they form.
Please support our farmers in growing sugar beet without neonicotinoids.
I want the bees protected from all chemicals and I want neonic-free sugar.
Please let us have neonic free sugar. We only have one planet, we must take care of it!
I stopped using neonic pesticides on my allotment twenty years ago.
Your actions threaten the future of all our children and grand-children.
I garden without the use of chemicals and grow wildlife friendly plants as do any of the general public. All this effort it outweighed by farmers using pesticides. We are told that sugar is not good for you so ban the sugar and leave the bees alone.
Without pollinators there will be no farming.
Only nature-friendly farming is truly sustainable in the long-term. It’s time to avoid pocket-friendly quick fixes and think truly long-term and sustainable. I urge you to stop using neonics right now. Don’t create and abuse legislation by claiming short-term emergencies and instead work to make the whole UK sugar industry nature-friendly. Many UK sugar beet farmers are to be applauded for abiding by the neonics ban, and now you need to recognise that your whole industry needs to follow suit. The UK population says no to neonics.
Well I am speechless about this absolutely ludicrous decision and would plead with British Sugar not to go ahead with this for the sake of our economically struggling farming community and our constantly struggling wildlife.
I am asking you to support farmers who want to grow neonic free sugar beet crops. Neonicotinoids are lethal to bees and their continued use will have a devastating impact on the population of bees which is already under threat from climate change, loss of habitat and by predatory bees such as the Asian hornet.
Having seen my parents generation of modernist or brutalist management of the environment where liberalised sterilisation or erasure of habitats has meant we have also erased the balance of nature. I have lived seeing the chain effect over my lifetime.
If our vital native pollinators are to survive farmers who eschew the use of neonics on their crops should be rewarded and given the opportunity to market their produce as neonic free and paid a premium for doing so.
I am a nature lover and we must preserve all insects and animals. Without bees all life on earth will cease.
There are better ways to grow sugar. This is a lazy and destructive practice.
It is crazy in this age that we have to still use harmful pesticides.
I am terrified that farming will be damaged if we continue to kill billions of bees with neonics.
Consumers should have a choice of what they buy, and accept that a higher price is an acceptable trade-off for premium produce. This is consumer and shareholder friendly!
I support the farmers who choose to grow sugar without neonics to protect our bees and prevent further pollution of our rivers.
Any farmer who manages to grow sugar beet without neonics should be promoted and supported. That way we can reduce the use of neonics to a minimum, only as a last resort.
We should not continue the use of neonicotinoids on crops, farmers need support and encouragement to be able to permanently move away from these. We should not be going backwards.
It is so short-sighted to use bee-killing sprays on crops! Please, for everyone in the world, including yourself, your family and all your employees and customers: don’t use anti-bee pesticides like Thiamethoxam. If you continue to use these, you will help to destroy the global ecosystem and no one will be able to grow crops in just a generation’s time. Two if we’re lucky.
As an older person I can see the decline in insect life. When I started driving a summers drive would mean cleaning the windscreen after to remove insects stuck to it. I never now have to do that. I can also visibly see the decline in butterflies and bees when in the countryside. Everything depends on insects, without them we are in danger of extinction. I would rather pay more for my sugar than use harmful chemicals.
This does not just affect bees. Insect populations have fallen dramatically. Restore the natural balance, predators and prey. Do not pollute the environment with toxic chemicals!
In my lifetime (63 years) I have seen a dramatic reduction in wildlife, especially noticeable is the reduction in insect life. I would love to see sad change reversed with your help.
I am terrified about what this world will be like in 20 years’ time and for my grandchildren. Large businesses seem to be able to control government policy more than anything else and it is vital that you step up and do what you can while there is still time.
We should not be supporting an already bloated chemical industry to make more profits and destroy more wildlife.
This is not just about your shareholders. There are bigger issues.
We need to do all we can to preserve and increase our biodiversity in the UK. Neonics will NOT help us do this.
I want you to protect the environment for me, my children and grandchildren. You should support the farmers who don’t use the pesticide with a higher price. You have a monopoly so should support your suppliers. Profit will be no good on a earth devoid of nature.
There is space for nature and farming to coexist happily in the UK and I support UK farmers who farm with wildlife, not against it. Say no to wildlife-harming chemicals.
Professor Dave Goulson’s book ‘Silent Earth’ clearly spells out the great danger that the use of Neonicotinoids in UK agriculture is posing to pollinators. If indifference to insects continues at the present level there will be extinction of bee species (and moths) and the cost will be billions to provide for artificial pollination of crops at the most optimistic though the breakdown of civil society within decades is a realistically foreseeable outcome. Please act responsibly towards the future wellbeing of insects and humans. #biodiversity crisis.
Insect life has declined dramatically in the last fifty years, especially bees, we need to farm more responsibly.
Poisoning wildlife is immoral and I would urge British Sugar and Shareholders to reward farmers who do not use neonics as reparation for the damage that is being inflicted. Better still only buy neonic free sugar beets.
I would hope that your industry would see the folly in destroying bee populations and I am sure the British public would not thank you for playing a role in what would be a tragic outcome of the use of neonicotinoids.
Your customers do not want neonics to be used, and your farmers don’t need to.
I am willing to pay more for sugar that is produced in a way that promotes biodiversity and reduces the use of pesticides and herbicides.
Large British businesses have the power to make a difference for all of our futures. Make that difference be positive. Be responsible. Grow your business ethically to be both commercially and environmentally sustainable. Government must also set the standard here.
Neonics cause huge problems for humans and wildlife we need the wildlife to run the planet. I am a believer in buying British but I do also believe that producers should listen to their customers. We do not want to be consuming this nor do we want to lose our wildlife, no bees no planet.
I believe that there are harmless alternatives to Thiamethoxam which can be used to preserve the safety and welfare of bees, who do so much good for pollination and the ecosystem overall. They’re so important and deserve to be protected for what they provide, which is so very special and vital to us all.
There are challenges to ensuring farmers receive a fair price for the food they produce, not least in ensuring they are protected from low-cost sugar imported from areas with lower-environmental standards abroad. But there is clear consumer backing for this too.
The Wildlife Trusts are willing to work constructively with the sector to call on the UK Government to protect UK farmers from damaging trade deals which undermine our farmers. Core environmental standards in trade deals on pesticides, and protections against tariff-free import access to sugar grown with neonicotinoids, is something we would support calling for.
bcoupe@wildlifetrusts.org wildlifetrusts.org @WildlifeTrusts @wildlifetrusts @thewildlifetrusts
