'Making work of agriculture with less chemistry'

An agriculture without chemistry is nice, but we must first work on an agriculture with less chemistry. That was the message that MEP Bas Eickhout of GroenLinks had on Thursday 27 February during the annual Foodlog conference. 'In the past 10 years there has been hardly any improvement in substance use in Europe.'

The comment that Eickhout immediately makes is that there is hardly any reliable data available when it comes to the use of synthetic crop protection products. He has to make do with a graph about the kilos sold in recent years. But one thing is clear: that graph unfortunately does not show a downward trend. “We have to work on that first.”

No hard requirement
An important cause, according to the MEP, is the European agricultural policy (CAP) of recent years. “In this respect, integrated crop protection (IPM) has not been a hard greening requirement.” And so, according to him, there is no improvement in the use of chemicals. “The question is how are we going to improve that? I feel like we all want the same thing, but we can't agree on how to get there.” 

This gave Eickhout a head start on the discussion that will be held later during the congress about whether the European Regulation on Plant Protection Products (1107) should be broken up. This is to achieve an accelerated admission of green resources.

More impulses
For Eickhout, chemistry should be a last resort. Measures such as crop rotation, monitoring and mechanical control must be given priority. “I would like to see IPM really take shape in Europe. And that we thereby reduce the use of chemicals. It would also ensure that the demand for green resources actually increases. Then there will also be more incentives to relax the admission policy.”

According to Eickhout, the new agricultural policy (2020-2027) as it has now been proposed is still too unambitious when it comes to greening. He fears a gap with the ambitions set out in the Green Deal. “There must be clear requirements for applying IPM.”

Jeanette Pennings

Jeannet has her roots in the flower bulb sector and she grew up on an agricultural company in the northern part of North Holland. As a generalist she reports for Boerenbusiness across all sectors. She is also exploring the possibilities of sponsored advertising.

j.pennings@boerenbusiness. Nl

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