Spreading weeds

Published on 21/09/2012 00:00

Having a Weeds Act, a Ragwort Control Act and the power of a government minister to enforce removal, I think ragwort comes pretty close to being proscribed (Letters, 19 and 20 September).

The problem, as with so much legislation, is it is all noise and no action. Nine years on from the Ragwort Control Act and the problem is worse than ever.

Since it has been allowed to grow freely on the verges of main roads for many years the seeds have been taken by traffic throughout the road system, and onto the verges of the smallest of roads, thence to the adjacent land. It has been spread from areas of arable farming, where it may be no additional cost to control when the crop is being sprayed anyway, to grassland where is costing more to control each year that passes.

Even though some stock, such as sheep, can happily eat it, it is a pernicious poison to others and the poison can accumulate over years until it is fatal, with no cure. It used to be that on complaint by a neighbouring farmer, the Ministry of Agriculture (now Seerad), as the minister’s agent, would serve notice requiring the landowner or occupier to remove the weed.

That was relatively straightforward when a neighbour had let ragwort get out of hand. Being spread by traffic makes it more complicated. That presumably is why we have a Ragwort Control Act.

Hector Maclean

Kirriemuir

Angus