Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost to UK agriculture of weeds, disease and pests.

The Department does not hold information to answer this question in full. The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

However, the following information may be useful.

· The UK plant health risk register assesses the likelihood of non-native pests and diseases of plants being introduced or spreading to their full extent and the impact and value at risk. The register is updated monthly and the outputs are all published: https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/phiw/riskRegister/

· In 2010, a Defra funded study by CABI estimated the cost of yield losses caused by non-native plant diseases at around £282m across GB. A sector breakdown shows the majority of costs are incurred in the grain, commercial vegetable and potato sectors: www.nonnativespecies.org/downloadDocument.cfm?id=487

· A 2010 report by the Animal and Plant Health Agency looked at the costs of ‘conflicts’ between human and wildlife interests, including pests. The estimated £500m annual cost of these conflicts and mitigation actions includes UK agriculture.

· A 2003 Defra study assessed the costs to GB agriculture of 35 endemic livestock diseases. This study has not been updated: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=ZZ0102_1215_FRP.doc

· Tackling bovine TB costs English taxpayers in the region of £100m per year with additional costs to farmers estimated to run to tens of millions of pounds each year.