The NFU is urging growers to lobby their MEPs over the EU Parliament Environment Committee’s recent vote for major cuts in pesticide use.

The committee’s proposals form its response to the Commission’s planned Sustainable Use Directive of the Thematic Strategy on Pesticides. It includes recommendations that are potentially harmful to the industry, according to the NFU, such as a proposal for a system of taxes or levies on pesticides to fund ‘National Action Plans’, put in place to meet EU targets to reduce pesticide use by 25 percent over five years and over 50 percent over ten years, and an additional Europe-wide tax on all pesticides with the proceeds used to promote low input and organic farming.

The committee also proposed compulsory buffer zones of at least 10 metres alongside watercourses - with no flexibility, even for products with aquatic clearance, a total ban on spraying vertical crops alongside or near watercourses, a ban on the use of pesticides in all public areas and substantial ‘buffer zones’ alongside public areas (including residential areas). The committee also refused to acknowledge any benefits in the discussion, said the union..

The NFU added that the EU Parliament Agriculture Committee had put forward ‘considerably more pragmatic’ proposals, but these were rejected by the Environment Committee.

Chris Hartfield, NFU’s horticulture adviser, said: “Pesticide usage in the UK is strictly controlled and subject to some of the most stringent safety measures in Europe. Many of the proposed measures, such as operator training, sprayer testing and residential buffer zones have already been adopted voluntarily by the UK industry.

“Rather than making unjustified radical cuts in pesticide use that may actually threaten the sustainability of the industry, we believe the Commission should focus its attention on ensuring the whole of Europe operates to the same high standard.”

The NFU says it is now vital that people lobby their MEPs to vote against the amendments during an Environment Committee meeting on September 10-11, and then during a plenary session at the end of September. A full list of MEPs on the Environment Committee and their contact details is available at the NFU website.

The NFU is meeting key MEPs on the Environment Committee during August and will arrange further meetings in Europe prior to the plenary vote. It also reports that it is raising the profile of the issue via the horticulture and farming press, and working with colleagues in European organisations to lobby across Europe. l

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