Farmers use a host of chemicals to combat pests, diseases and competition from weeds. Unfortunately, these chemicals kill more than just the pests they target.

Asger Mindegaard and Celia Nyssens look to Slovenia for inspiration for how farmers can produce good food without poisoning wildlife.

No conclusive data exists about the precise amount of pesticide used in the EU’s agricultural sector. This is despite the fact that farmers are required to make and keep records of pesticide use and despite the EU target that by 2020 “the use of plant protection products does not have any harmful effects on human health or unacceptable influence on the environment”.

Almost halfway into the year, it seems clear that the 2020 target has been missed. Pesticide use in the EU continues to put pressure on biodiversity and the authorisation process for pesticides, while being one of the strictest in the world, does not manage to protect human health and the environment sufficiently (see here and here). The latest annual report by the European Food Safety Agency showed that a third of the food consumed in the EU contains residues of two or more pesticides and that several non-approved pesticides were found repeatedly in randomised samples of food produced both within and outside the EU. 

A broken system

Pesticides, fungicides and herbicides (collectively known as pesticides) are chemicals used to protect agricultural crops from pests and fungi and to kill unwanted plants, commonly referred to as weeds, competing with the crops for light and nutrients. This has been increasingly necessary because modern industrial agriculture creates the ideal conditions for the presence and proliferation of pests, disease and weeds. 

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