Agriculture

The global pesticide market is growing – and there are only a few corporations that are dividing it up among themselves. They are increasingly investing in countries in the Global South, where pesticides are less strictly regulated.

Parts of global crop production are lost to pests and plant pathogens each year. Pesticides have been designed to prevent these yield losses – but they also give rise to new problems.

More and more highly toxic pesticides are being used in agriculture worldwide, although the consequences for our ecosystem are serious.

The EU is the largest pesticide export market in the world, now investing more and more in countries of the Global South, where EU companies are allowed to export pesticides banned on their own due to their harmful effects on human health and the environment. A longstanding demand of international civil society calls for laws that effectively ban these toxic exports.

In June 2022, the European Commission presented a new regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products. This regulation is a long awaited response to the insufficient results of the Sustainable Use of Pesticide Directive (SUD) that framed the use of pesticides since 2009. Conclusions from many reports, including a report from the EU Court of Auditors, have shown that there had been very little progress in reducing use and risks for the environment and human health of pesticides. With 75% of food production depending on pollination, the urgency of the situation is alarming and a strong response is needed. Here, we will have a quick look at this regulation and check if the CAP Strategic Plans can provide good tools to help reach the ambition of the text.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sparked a debate on food security in Europe. Three months later, the fear of food shortages is still used as a pretext to question environmental goals of the CAP and the European Green Deal more broadly. This article sets things straight on the derogation to allow production on fallow land, analyse the state of grain production and use as feed in Europe, reflect on what it entails for the future of the livestock sector and screen some CAP Strategic Plans and related Observation Letters to see what can be expected in the years to come to achieve coherent food security in Europe.

Bulgaria’s CAP Strategic Plan must be corrected in order to be in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, and the EU’s Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies. This article highlights essential changes to be made, from targets and monitoring to measuring coherence and consistency.

Changes in the CAP strategic Plan submitted by Ireland are “required”, as pointed out in the Observation Letter sent by the European Commission to Ireland. The overall green architecture itself, including eco-schemes especially, needs work, if Ireland is to achieve its environmental targets. There is a distinct lack of ambition, scoring, and incentives for stronger environmental practices. Increasing dairy herd numbers is named directly as making the necessary changes more difficult. That the letter’s language is strident in places is noteworthy. So what is the Commission asking for? And what comes next? Oliver Moore reports.    

On 31 March 2022, the 19 EU Member States that submitted their CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) by the 1 January 2022 deadline received their awaited Observation Letters. In this article we discuss the implications of the European Commission backtracking on a transparent process and explore the content of Observation Letters that have been partially released.