The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has restated that unless the Agriculture Council amends the existing draft regulation for placing pesticides on the market, farmers will be left with few solutions for protecting important crops. This follows the meetings of the Agriculture Council on 17-19 December.

ECPA urges the council to decide against hazard-based criteria, as proposed by the European Parliament in October, which could lead to a loss of 80 per cent of insecticides and 70 per cent of fungicides, severely reducing the tools for sustainable plant protection in Europe.

It is thought that, in many cases, farmers will lose their last lines of defense against pests and disease. Also, there are fears that higher food prices at supermarkets will be the result of rising production costs in farming.

“Our ability to provide affordable, fresh fruit and vegetables to European consumers is being threatened at a time when obesity, heart disease and diabetes are at all-time highs,” said ECPA's regulatory affairs director, Euros Jones. “The EU should aim to establish consistent policies, whereby they commit substantial resources to the promotion of a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables, and at the same time ensure that these fruit and vegetables do not turn into luxury items.”

“European consumers increasingly say that they want to buy locally produced food. But with such a loss of plant protection solutions in the EU, the more likely scenario is that imported food will replace home-grown food. Take olives as an example: olives and olive oil are typically European, but decreasing the already limited number of pesticides available to protect them will make olive farming in most parts of Europe economically and environmentally unsustainable.”

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