Twelve months ago, United Oilseeds sounded the alarm over the future of oilseed rape in the UK. In an open letter to cooperative members and the wider industry, Managing Director James Warner laid out the stark reality:
- The UK had the worst-performing OSR yields compared to all 27 EU countries.
- The area sown for harvest 2024 would be the smallest since 1984.
- UK food security on edible oils had plummeted to just 20%.
- For the first time ever, Britain was set to import more oilseed rape than it produced.
These figures made it clear that action couldn’t wait. Years of battling cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), inconsistent establishment, and an unlevel playing field, where imported crops could be grown with neonicotinoids banned in the UK, had driven growers out of OSR. Yet oilseed rape remains a critical break crop and a vital home-grown source of edible oil.
Galvanising the Industry
In response, United Oilseeds launched the OSR Reboot campaign to unite the industry around protecting and rebuilding domestic oilseed rape production. At the initial kick-off meeting, 57 representatives from 42 organisations including seed breeders, agronomists, processors, bee groups, policymakers, farmer organisations, and Defra came together. From this, three working groups on agronomy, breeding, and policy were formed and have spent the past year developing practical support for growers, lobbying for fairer conditions, and driving innovation in OSR varieties.
Seed breeders have continued to invest significantly in developing varieties better equipped to cope with CSFB pressure. Among the most promising breakthroughs is LG Avenger, which hit the UK market this year and is the first OSR variety explicitly marketed as CSFB-resilient, a potential game-changer in helping growers rebuild confidence in the crop.
United Oilseeds itself committed considerable investment, approved by the board of farmer directors, to help drive this collective effort. It was a clear signal that the farmer owned cooperative would stand behind growers and play its part in securing a better future for the crop.
Keeping OSR on the Agenda
Beyond industry circles, the campaign captured wider attention, even featuring in Private Eye magazine, highlighting how critical the issue had become. In February, United Oilseeds and AHDB held a dedicated OSR conference attended by 70 guests, including farmers, agronomists and members of the farming media. Positive stories and successful tactics were shared, reinforced by a vital message: there will always be a market for high-quality UK oilseed rape.
Tangible Progress
Importantly, the Reboot has delivered solid outcomes in its first year. Among them:
- National Stem Larvae Survey: Coordinated across 200 farms to build an unprecedented picture of pest pressure.
- MagicTrap & the National Network: Giving farmers the tools to monitor CSFB activity and providing regional and national indications of CSFB presence.
- Agrisound Bee Monitoring Pilot: Comparing OSR with wheat and legume fallow, the project has already shown bee activity five times higher in OSR. Valuable evidence for the crop’s environmental benefits. Both the British Bee Keepers Association and the Bee Farmers Association have also lent their support to the Reboot, sharing articles in their publications, and amplifying the importance of oilseed rape in providing early forage for pollinators.
- Unified CSFB Strategy: Another industry collaboration and one of the more recent and significant achievements, is the development of ten agreed strategies to help manage CSFB. For the first time, the whole industry is speaking with a single voice, providing growers with a clear roadmap of best practice for managing CSFB in OSR. Highlights within the ten strategies include Ditch the Date, which encourages growers to sow either earlier or later to avoid peak beetle migration instead of relying on traditional calendar dates. Chase Perfection at Establishment focuses on getting crops off to the best possible start by prioritising moisture, seed quality, seed-to-soil contact, and nutrition, while selecting varieties with the right vigour to establish strongly. Finally, “Park the Pyrethroids” recognises that resistance is a genuine threat, and that repeated spraying can often do more harm than good by disrupting beneficial insects and wider biodiversity.
- A major new research initiative: led by AHDB and due to launch later this summer to tackle cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), the leading cause of winter oilseed rape (WOSR) crop loss. Funded through a collaboration between levy payers and industry partners; Bayer, Corteva, Frontier Agriculture, Limagrain, Openfield, Phoenix Speciality Oils, and United Oilseeds, the four-and-a-half-year project is a significant investment in the future of UK oilseed rape. Planned across five workstreams including testing novel treatments, advancing cultural controls, generating data for decision support, understanding, and encouraging CSFB’s natural enemies, and creating space for innovation.
- Lobbying and influencing: Throughout the first year, briefing papers were shared with policymakers and stakeholders, underlining the importance of nature-positive crops, especially flowering crops like oilseed rape as a vital early-season forage source for pollinators. Evidence from the AgriSound bee monitoring pilot, has strengthened this case. With the British Beekeepers Association and Bee Farmers Association lending their support, and Defra attending meetings, the Reboot is working hard to ensure these benefits are recognised and embedded in any future environmental schemes.
A More Positive Outlook
Alongside United Oilseeds member research, via the MagicTrap network last autumn and the spring stem larvae count conducted by Niab, there are further encouraging signs from the latest Bayer & Dekalb OSR benchmarking survey, supporting the theory that the tide may be turning. Their CSFB numbers are the lowest recorded for six years, and favourable establishment conditions last autumn have seen 83% of crops carried through to harvest, up from 73% the previous year.
Looking Ahead
There is still much work to do, and the challenges remain real. But a year on, the OSR Reboot has proven that collaboration and renewed focus can drive meaningful change. Continued investment in innovation, from breeding resilient varieties like LG Avenger to trialling new agronomy approaches, alongside continued lobbying of key decision makers will be crucial to building on this progress.
Speaking about the OSR Reboot one year on, United oilseeds Managing Director James Warner comments: “The response we’ve seen over the past year is exceptional and I’m in no doubt we’ve certainly raised the profile right across the industry and beyond.
“The challenge now is to do everything we can to keep CSFB pressure low, starting with the 10 management strategies for oilseed rape. The more growers that practice these thoroughly researched set of principles, the better chance we have of achieving a sustainable area of oilseed rape for the UK,” added James.
United Oilseeds remains committed to working alongside all partners to ensure oilseed rape has a resilient future in UK rotations, providing a lifeline for pollinators, increasing food security, and supporting economic growth.