Several members of the ‘Agri-Food Chain Roundtable on Plant Protection’ published a joint open letter, on Monday 31 May, regarding the importance of conducting a “holistic assessment before making any decisions about the reduction of pesticide use”.
The European Commission is aiming for a 50% reduction in the use of chemicals as set in the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy.
The pesticide use in the EU and the risks associated with them have decreased sharply over the last 50 years. The average use rate of active ingredients per hectare for herbicides for instance, has dropped by 97%, according to these organisations. Currently, less than 470 active substances (including 29 low-risk active substances and 23 basic substances) are available in the market to protect crop and plant production.
For Max Schulman, member of the Finnish Farmers Organisation (MTK) in Copa-Cogeca, the political objective of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy to reduce the use of active substances is a challenge for all major productions in the EU. For him, a comprehensive assessment of the “cumulative economic, social and environmental impacts” of the various targets for EU agriculture set out in the ‘Biodiversity’ and ‘Farm to Fork’ strategies is needed before taking any political or binding regulatory decisions.
Link to the letter: https://bit.ly/3fW1KHI (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)