What's new for weed management in 2025.

Pesticide legislation and direction from the Government;

2025 promises some big changes in weed management legislation and direction from the Government.  

1. It seems that at long last the National Action Plan for the Sustainable use of Pesticides, which we have long anticipated will finally appear some time this year - If you press Chat GPT for an estimate, it's best guess is October, but I'm a little more bullish... I think we may see it some time this side of Summer.   This document will provide updated guidance, which we know will feature a push towards Integrated Weed Management, with a view to reducing pesticide use across all sectors.  

1. We have already seen the launch of new guidance from Defra on IPM for farming in December 2024;

  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/integrated-pest-management-ipm-in-farming

I have been working with other parties to produce some similar guidance for Amenity Spaces, which will be launched later this year.

1. Siân Berry, Green MP for Brighton Pavillion has introduced the Plant Protection Products (Prohibition on Public Sector Use) Bill, which will have it's second reading in Parliament on the 25th of April.  Meanwhile her Early Day Motion has gained cross party support.  If successful the bill would have big implications for the way we manage weeds in the UK.

(Zasso Zap weeder)

Education and Training

A couple of years ago we helped develop a short course with Lantra on Integrated Weed Management - called Awareness of integrated weed management.  

You can find the course here; https://www.lantra.co.uk/product/34143

This year we have been working to re-vamp the course and it will be re-launched as a certificate of competence, meaning it will gain equivelance with courses such as PA2 or PA6.  The idea is that people would take this in addition to PA1.  Many students are looking to enter careers in orgainc spaces, and councils or companies looking to move away from using chemicals need employees who have knowledge of Integrated Weed Management and alternatives to plant protection products.  This course aims to provide just such knowledge.

We are also working with Parks for London on their new reference guide for Integrated Weed Management.  

You can check out their reference guide here; https://parksforlondon.org.uk/resource/integrated-weed-management/

We hope to launch both of these at an event later this year.

Weed Management Products for 2025

Last year we launched several new products, which we have begun demonstrating and selling.  This year you should start to see many more if these in the market, as well as some more developments.  

1. We launched the Zap Weeder from the Swiss company Zasso, which helps manage weeds on hard surfaces using Electricity. This is a walk behind machine, which allows simple systemic killing of weeds on pavements and paths.  

  https://kerstenuk.com/electric-weeders/pedestrian-electric-weeder/walk-behind-electric-weeder-sunpc

1. We took over the sales in the UK of the Rootwave Pro product, which will shortly be re-branded and updated.  This is an electric spot weeding lance which is effective on invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed.  

  https://kerstenuk.com/electric-weeders/pedestrian-electric-weeder/electric-lance-for-weed-management-0ngyb

(Electric Weeding Lance)

1. We launched the ECO Weedkiller Pro SP Mini, which brings new autonomy to Hot Water Weeding, allowing easy manouvering of the machine in a utility vehicle such as the Kubota RTV or John Deere Gator.

  https://kerstenuk.com/hot-water-weeders/pedestrian-hot-water-weeders/ewk-sp-mini-zx4px

1. We developed the Weed Sweeper - a tractor attachment for weed brushing over the full width of the tractor.

  https://kerstenuk.com/blog/Tractor%20Attachments/the-new-path-master-delivers-weed-brushing-at-scale

More product developments will be coming later in 2025, but we don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet!

Attitudes towards Pesticides and Alternatives

We have noticed more appetite to try alternative weed management methods and especially a desire to understand integrated weed management over the last few months.  I expect this to continue across 2025, especially after the launch of the National Action Plan.  

I also expect both the pro-pesticide and anti-pesticide voices to get louder.  This year the arguments will be heated, as the stakes are raised with the second reading of the plant protection products bill and the national action plan.  

I hope conversations will be cordial and respectful, and that people will engage with the actual arguments and scientific research on either side, rather than relying on dogma or hyperbolic statement - which is unfortunately something I have also noticed entering into the duscussion.

Here's to an exciting year!