The UK Government is currently consulting on its National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides and here’s why I think everyone should respond...
For some farmers they are a last resort, used very occasionally when all else has failed; but probably for most they are a routine part of producing a crop. At any rate, pesticides are a fact of modern farming.
Across most UK arable land pesticides are the main method for controlling pests, weeds and diseases, and control these we must if we want to maintain a plentiful and affordable food supply. Of course, there are costs as well as benefits. At Hope Farm, although we do minimise their use as far as possible, pesticides account for around 30% of our annual expenditure. We’re a fairly typical arable farm - if farmers across the country are spending a third of their budget on pesticides we’d better be sure it’s money well spent! Is current use of pesticides as safe and effective as possible, or should Government and industry be doing more to raise standards?
The EU has rigorous systems in place to protect people and the environment from harmful effects of pesticides. Nevertheless, harm does occur. Water companies report that pesticides are one of the key pollutants affecting drinking water supplies. Removing pesticides from water is very expensive and sometimes impossible - last February a reservoir in Somerset had to be partially drained because of contamination from slug pellets. Pesticides are also linked to wildlife losses. The Pesticides Forum reports that corn buntings, grey partridges and yellowhammers, birds that are indirectly impacted by pesticides, continue to decline. There is widespread concern about the effects of neonicotinoid insecticides, in particular, on bees and other pollinating insects (see Defra’s recent review for more).
There are other reasons we might want to rely less on pesticides. EU review programmes are taking products off the market, narrowing the choices available to farmers. Combined with the growing problem of pesticide resistance, this is leading some food producers to worry that soon they will not have access to chemicals capable of tackling their pest problems.
As all good farmers know, there are other ways to control pests. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an approach that makes use of a range of techniques, including crop rotation, encouraging natural enemies of pests and using resistant cultivars, with chemical control only as a last resort. Some, but not all, UK farmers already embrace these principles to a greater or lesser extent.
New EU legislation requires each country to produce an action plan to reduce negative impacts of pesticide use and promote IPM. The draft ‘action plan’ for the UK lists the various schemes that are already in place. An IPM self-assessment tool is being developed, which hopefully will offer some guidance for farmers who want to improve their performance. However, despite the ongoing problems mentioned above, and despite the clear benefits to farmers, the public and the environment of reducing our reliance on pesticides, government is not proposing to do anything new beyond the bare minimum required by the EU.
The RSPB will respond to this consultation to urge the government to buck up its ambitions on pesticides. If this is an issue you care about we’d urge you to respond too: full details here http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/07/30/uknap-pesticides/. And please feel free to share your thoughts here as well...