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News Releases Proposed EU pesticide legislation could lead to loss of most UK-approved products 11 June 2008 Yields will be decimated, many crops will become uneconomical to produce and food quality will be threatened if new legislation proposed by the EU Commission on changes to the regulation of pesticides becomes law in the near future. The proposals, scheduled to be implemented in late 2009, could lead to the removal of 85 per cent of agrochemical products currently approved for use in the UK. In addition, they would create food shortages, soaring food prices and a reliance on imported produce, while the environment would come under threat from changing cropping regimes. These were the key messages coming from a British Crop Production Council Food Chain Forum held in London recently, entitled: ‘The impact of new EU legislation on UK food production, availability and price’. According to James Clarke, Science and Business development manager, ADAS, the lowest impact of the Commission proposals would mean a 25 per cent drop in crop production in the UK – just 3-5 years following implementation. However, taking the example of the EU Parliament’s more severe proposals, this could result in a minimum 53 per cent drop in overall crop production. Mr Clarke was referring to an independent study conducted by ADAS based on assumptions of agrochemical product loss in the Pesticide Safety Directorate’s (PSD) recently conducted ‘impact assessment’ of the proposals. The study looked at major crops in the UK including wheat, potatoes and brassica field vegetables. “Disease control would be the major problem on all crops,” said Mr Clarke, speaking at the event. “We would see major disease problems in the potato crop in terms of blight control, while the threat from Septoria in wheat, in addition to weeds, would be the major drivers in terms of yield loss there.” Mr Clarke suggested that brassicas would become uneconomical to grow long before the full implications of product losses were felt. “We would have to see crop price rises between 30-120 per cent in wheat, 49-100 per cent in potatoes and over 300 per cent in brassicas if a collapse in growers’ gross margins was to be avoided, warned Mr Clarke. “We would also lose key actives with which to manage resistance properly,” added Mr Clarke. “We need full understanding of the impact of the proposals on fresh food quality, continuity of supply and seasonality, throughout the food chain,” he stressed. David Richardson, Senior Agronomist at the PSD, said that the UK’s ‘impact assessment’ was a “best estimate” in terms of what impact the proposals would have due to the vague definitions within the proposals. He showed that current EU Parliament proposals could lead to 66 per cent of insecticides being removed, up to 49 per cent of fungicides and 33 per cent of herbicides – and that these figures could increase dramatically after a five year period. The Arable Group’s Research & Technical Director, Jim Orson, raised the concern on how the loss of key pesticides might impact on min-till regimes and the effect that might have on the environment. “Environmentally, min-till is very important to reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint and the practice will be at risk without the availability of the right herbicides,” he said. Mr Orson also warned against any thoughts of a reliance on organic systems. He said that research had shown that organic production in bread wheat was more nutrient polluting than in conventional production, while nitrogen loss per tonne of production was greater in organic systems. “They both have a very similar global warming potential per tonne of production but with organic wheat only grown one year in six in the rotation, it doesn’t produce enough food and the amount of pollution created in its production is high. “We know things have to change,” said Mr Orson. “There are issues with conventional agriculture such as leaching and resistance, but to farm in an environmentally-friendly way, and produce enough food, we need the tools to do it.” Dominic Dyer, Chief Executive of the Crop Protection Association (CPA) said that the proposed legislation would increase European food prices and reduce quality, and could lead to more food, of questionable quality, being imported from outside the EU. “We have to engage with the major food manufacturers in this – but the message isn’t getting through to policy makers,” he stressed. “The UK is isolated at the moment in its approach to the proposals and, although we are starting to see the debate in other European nations, we have to see other member states engage in the process.” Mr Dyer highlighted June 19th and 20th as key dates in the process. “European leaders are gathering for a Council of Ministers meeting and if, the BCPC can get the right messages across, it could go a long way towards seeing the proposals taken off the Commission’s agenda.” Forum chairman and President of the BCPC, Hugh Oliver-Bellasis, concluded by stating it was “imperative that the full extent of the potential impact of the EU proposals was understood and that the messages were communicated urgently to stakeholders and decision makers at the highest level across Europe”. |
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