Brussels, 31 May 2021
Primary Food Processors (PFP) joined twelve other organisations from across Europe’s agri food chain in calling for a comprehensive assessment of the Farm to Fork Strategy targets before any binding regulatory decisions are taken regarding pesticide reduction objectives.
The joint statement was issued on the first anniversary of the Farm to Fork Strategy and focused on the proposed objective of reducing the use and risk of chemical plant protection products by 50% across the European Union.
According to the signatories, reducing plant protection products without ensuring the availability of viable alternatives could create significant economic, social and environmental consequences for European agriculture and food production.
The organisations highlighted that European agriculture has already achieved substantial progress in reducing pesticide use and risk through innovation, improved farming practices and the development of more targeted crop protection technologies.
They noted that modern active substances often require significantly lower application rates than older products and pointed to the increasing availability of low risk substances and alternative crop protection solutions.
The signatories acknowledged that further reductions may be achievable through future innovation, including biological crop protection solutions, improved crop rotation systems, digital and precision agriculture technologies, and New Genomic Techniques that support more resilient crop production.
However, they stressed that many of these solutions are not yet sufficiently available or scalable across all agricultural sectors and production systems within the European Union.
The organisations therefore warned against implementing rigid reduction targets without first conducting a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative economic, social and environmental impacts on agriculture, food production and competitiveness.
The joint statement called on the European Commission to carry out comprehensive impact assessments, maintain dialogue across the agri food value chain, support innovation driven transition pathways and ensure that future policy decisions remain connected to operational realities faced by farmers and food producers.
PFP joined a broad coalition of agricultural, food, feed, processing and trade organisations in supporting this call for a balanced and evidence based approach to implementing Farm to Fork objectives.
PFP members process approximately 220 million tonnes of raw materials and employ more than 120,000 people across the European Union.
