VI Champions speak at AHDB Resistance Roadshows

11 December 2025

A number of VI Champions speak on the importance of resistance management as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) - based approach to sustainable farming.

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Across the winter months of 2025-26, a number of VI Champions are speaking at the joint AHDB/VI led Resistance Roadshows funded by Defra.  There are eight workshops planned, with seven in England and one planned for Scotland outlining resistance management strategies for plant protection products (PPPs), including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.

The workshops began in December 2025 with the first Roadshow held near Launceston in the southwest (Weds 3 Dec 2025).  Here Cornish farmer and VI Champion Mike Hambly gave a fantastic talk on the importance of resistance management as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) - based approach to sustainable farming, but highlighting the need to maintain profitability and the importance of discussion between agronomists and farmers as the cornerstone to pest management decisions on farm.

At the second workshop (Thurs 11 Dec 2025), held at the beautiful setting of the The Granary, Sudbury on the riverbank of the River Stour, Contractor and VI Champion Chris Ward gave a fantastic talk on the importance of resistance management as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) - based approach to sustainable farming, but not only highlighting the need to maintain profitability, but also the need to use best practice on farm, not only for resistance protection to PPPs, but also protection of the operator/farmer in terms of personal safety

Each VI Champion talk was then followed by expert input from colleagues from ADAS; John Cussans (Launceston) and Sarah Cook (Sudbury) on herbicides, Harper Adams and Rothamsted; Tom Pope (Launceston) and Sam Cook (Sudbury) on insecticides, and ADAS and NIAB; Rebecca Joynt (Launceston) and Aoife O' Driscoll (Sudbury) on fungicides.  At both Workshops, there was great interaction and discussion between the 40-50+ attendees who discussed a number of resistance scenarios specific to that particular region, for example grassland issues in Launceston and arable/horticultural issues in Sudbury.

Future Workshops to be held in the early months of 2026 and details of how to book a place can be found here.