The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) is making a final bid to garner support in its battle to prevent plans to restrict crop protection products.
On Monday 12 January, members of the European Parliament will vote on the plant protection products directive. The final proposals follow agreement by the European Council, Commission and Parliament meetings and do not, in the opinion on the FPC, include a full impact assessment.
The FPC believes the proposals will have a significant impact on horticulture, leading to the removal of key products over a period of time.
The FPC is calling for the European Parliament to reject the compromise agreement and has been lobbying MPs, MEPs, embassies and worldwide trade organisations regarding the proposals which are likely to have an effect on horticulture throughout Europe, as well as on the international trade of fresh fruit and vegetables, and subsequent availability of food.
According to an updated agronomic assessment by the UK’s Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) the proposals could remove up to 23 per cent of crop protection products which are vital to the production of fruit and vegetables across Europe.
Loss of some herbicides could seriously affect weed control for carrots, parsnips and onions, and PSD assesses there is the potential for “up to 100 per cent yield loss on carrots‟.
Huw Irranca-Davies, minister for the Natural and Marine Environment, Wildlife and Rural Affairs, told the FPC: “The position is not clear cut with regard to food safety and importing produce from outside the EU, because the Regulation will apply hazard criteria within the EC, but the regime for regulating maximum residue levels in treated produce is based on risk assessment.
“We expect that, when the Commission withdraws approval of an active substance because it breaches one of the hazard criteria, they will reduce the relevant maximum residue levels to the limit of determination.
“It is critical that government and stakeholders alike use their influence to try to restrict the Parliament‟s more extreme proposals...I welcome the lobbying that trade associations are doing.”
Within the European Parliament the need for a full impact assessment has been recognised. A recent study published by the EU policy department looked at the proposals and investigated alternative methods of cultivation within an integrated pest management framework, which is already practiced widely by UK horticulture due to the limited availability of existing crop protection products.
The EU study concluded: “Chemical pesticides are a vital part of crop protection and they need to be used more within the framework of IPM. More impact assessments need to be done on the consequences of the 'cut-off' criteria. It is likely that a loss of key herbicides would jeopardise production of some minor [horticultural] crops...‟.
Without the availability of crop protection products yields may be reduced causing an increase in the cost of production for produce such as carrots, peas, parsnips and onions. In some cases it could prove uneconomic to grow certain crops in the UK.
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