The European Commission adopted a draft delegated act on Wednesday 15 February simplifying a number of rules on the greening of aid, particularly with regard to ecological focus areas (EFAs).
The message being sent by the Commission is clear. It confirms its desire to ban the use of pesticides on four types of EFA, despite opposition from 18 member states (see EUROPE 11698).
The MEPs on the European Parliament agriculture committee also argued against this measure when they met in Strasbourg on 13 February to discuss simplifying greening rules. Greening accounts for 30% of direct payments and, to qualify, farmers have to comply with three climate and environment friendly agricultural practices: diversifying crops; maintaining permanent grasslands; turning 5% of arable land over to ecological focus areas.
Entry into force by 2018 at latest. The Commission plans to adopt the delegated act formally in the first quarter of 2017 (following the two-month period that the Council and the Parliament have to accept or reject the text). Entry into force is planned for mid-2017. And the new rules will apply from 2018 at the latest, with member states having the option of applying certain provisions from 2017, should they wish. An explanatory note on how to set up and monitor the ban on the use of pesticides will be provided to the member states.
Definition of production conditions. The Commission proposes to ban the use of pesticides on four types of EFA: fallow land, catch crops, nitrogen-fixing plants and strips along forests. The ban seeks to address the objective of EFAs which is to preserve and develop biodiversity, the Commission representative, Pierre Bascou, told the Parliament agriculture committee. The length of time the ban will apply will be made consistent with the minimum period of presence or retention of the EFA on the farm, he said.
MEPs not convinced. Paul Brannen (S&D, UK) backed the pesticide ban on EFAs. However, Norbert Erdos (EPP, Hungary) stated: “There are instances where it is not feasible not to use pesticides” to get rid of weeds. Angélique Delahaye (EPP, France) criticised the proposal which, she said, would “result in a significant reduction in protein crop production when the EU is heavily dependent on import capacities”. Éric Andrieu (S&D, France) regretted that a delegated act was being brought forward, “restricting what Parliament can do, forcing it to say only yes or no”. He felt some proposals were premature and argued that the plan to ban pesticide use on EFAs was not a minor change. He acknowledged, however, that not using pesticides on EFAs would not restrict vegetable protein production. Jean-Paul Denanot (S&D, France) argued that permanent grasslands and catch crops had to be encouraged (for animal feeds). In the view of Ulrike Müller (ALDE, Germany), continued use of pesticides was necessary for the production of protein crops. Clara Eugenia Aguilera Garcia (S&D, Spain) expressed doubts over the agronomic justification for banning pesticides on EFAs. “Intermediate solutions might be found”, she suggested.
Bascou said that the pesticide ban would have a limited impact because it only applied to EFAs, that is, 5% of arable land. “The use of pesticides on these areas flies in the face of biodiversity, water quality and environmental protection objectives”, he argued. He stated that there already exist alternative means of weed control and that 15 countries have already banned pesticides in the treatment of short rotation coppices. Some countries already ban them on catch crops (Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) and nitrogen-fixing plants (Belgium).
The other points of the delegated act:
Fallow land. The Commission proposes the introduction of a common minimum duration for lying fallow of at least six months for a given calendar year with the possibility for farmers of resuming production before the end of the year to prepare for the next.
Catch crops and green cover. It is proposed that the 1 October deadline for sowing catch crops or green cover be removed and replaced with a common minimum duration of eight weeks when the crop is present to better address the objective of avoiding the leaching of minerals. The Commission also proposes to extend the list of species for under-sowing (these are currently limited to herbaceous species and the Commission is proposing to also allow leguminous).
Nitrogen-fixing crops. The Commission proposes to allow mixtures of seeds for nitrogen-fixing crops (rather than one single type of seed, under current rules).
Landscape features and strips. The Commission proposes: - merging certain strips (buffer strips and field margins); merging certain landscape features (trees in line, wooded strips and hedges); streamlining associated conditions for other landscape features (maximum width of 10 metres for hedges and ditches and maximum area of 0.3 hectare for ponds and field copses).
The Commission proposes to bring in greater flexibility. The first 20 metres of a field margin measuring 22 metres in width could be considered an EFA (only excluding the additional two metres). Currently, 22-metre wide field margins are not accepted as EFAs. Twelve-metre hedges will be accepted up to a height of ten metres. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)