Roger Doig, president of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has announced the launch of the CommonGround Campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of crop protection products at a press conference in Brussels.

The CommonGround Campaign is an EU-wide initiative of the ECPA and its national associations in 25 European countries. The UK Crop Protection Association strongly supports the CommonGround Campaign and its goals.

Doig said, "This campaign is about setting the record straight. Crop protection products bring many economic, environmental and social benefits. They protect crops from dangerous pests and diseases, make food more affordable to consumers, and enhance biodiversity when used as part of integrated farming. They've done so much to improve people's lives - yet most people are completely unaware of this. It's our job to tell them."

The launch of the campaign focused on one central theme: the role that crop protection products play in making food as affordable as possible to as many people as possible.

"By helping farmers grow consistently high yields of fresh produce," said Friedhelm Schmider, ECPA director general, "crop protection products help keep the cost of fresh produce down. This ensures that everyone, regardless of their income, can afford a wide variety of foods."

While many people fail to change their poor dietary habits out of stubbornness or a lack of motivation, for a substantial minority of others healthy food is quite simply beyond their budget. Eurostat confirms that 14 per cent of Europeans are living on low incomes, with a disposable income that's less than 60 per cent of the national median income. Research gathered by EUFIC (the European Food Information Council) shows that these people are generally more vulnerable to health problems related to inadequate food consumption and low nutrition.

“The CommonGround Campaign pushes one strong message: if we want to reverse poor dietary habits, then good dietary habits have to be affordable to everyone - and that means crop protection products,” said the CPA.