POLITICIANS have paid a visit to one of the major carrot growing and processing farms in North Yorkshire amid concerns they are under threat from a ban on an insecticide.

The European Union may extend a ban on neonicotinoid insecticides - a component of many agricultural systems, which eradicate pests that may disrupt the growth of crops - to cover non-flowering crops.

John Procter MEP for Yorkshire and The Humber and Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer, visited Naburn Hill Farm, in York, with Rodger Hobson, managing director of Hobson Farming and chairman of the British Carrot Growers’ Association.

Mr Sturdy said: “I am going to ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to make it a priority to pay an early visit to my constituency to hear the concerns of farmers in this industry and others who may potentially be affected.”