THE NFU has written to The Times newspaper in response to an article by Dr Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute, about oil seed rape, headlined: “What’s lurid yellow and makes you sneeze? Ask the EU”.

The response stated: “Dr Madsen Pirie is incorrect to point to subsidy as the reason British farmers grow more than 600,000 hectares of oil seed rape in his article published in the Times yesterday (What’s lurid yellow and makes you sneeze? Ask the EU, May 21).

“Agricultural policy in England has long since moved on from distributing support payments based on the growing of a specific crop. The reality is that oil seed rape has earned its role as a valuable part of the UK arable sector. Whether it’s the one million tonnes of vegetable oil that originates from these ‘yellow fields’ or its virtues as a break crop, improving soil structure and breaking disease cycles in cereal farming rotations, it’s a valuable part of today’s farming industry.

“As for this crop making people ‘sneeze and wheeze’, this is something the British Medical Research Council’s Institute of Environment and Health has examined. Studies agree allergy to rape seed pollen is rare, even in areas of intense cultivation. Furthermore, people who are sensitive to oil seed rape tend to have other similar allergies. There is poor evidence that oil seed rape pollen acts as an active allergen in itself, except perhaps for occupational exposure.

“Far from the suggestion of being ‘cabbagey’, cold-pressed rape seed oil has firmly established itself as a premium product to rival the finest olive oils on supermarket shelves. And, if you read those labels, you’ll see that rape seed oil is a source of omega oils and vitamin E and has a lower saturated fat content than other cooking oils. Whether you look at it from the farmyard or the kitchen, the vivid yellow flowers of this versatile crop are just the beginning of its attractive qualities.”