Copa Cogeca, the umbrella group of EU farm organisations and co-operatives, has slammed what it calls the “bingo of political targets” in relation to environmental regulations on the agriculture sector.
The organisation was reacting to a report by an MEP from the Group of Greens political grouping in the European Parliament.
This report is set to be debated by the parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.
The report calls on the European Commission to cut the use of pesticides in the EU by 80% by 2030, with a view to completely phasing out synthetic pesticides in the bloc by 2035.
Although this report must go through several legislative steps before it becomes an actual EU regulation, it is nonetheless generating some level of concern among EU farming representatives.
In a statement, Copa Cogeca called for risk assessments of active substances in plant protection products to be “science based and transparent”, including for the more hazardous products.
“From the evidence available, this proposed target is not based on any impact assessment, nor does it provide any agronomic details on its approach,” Copa Cogeca said.
The current proposal from the European Commission, which would cut pesticide use by 50% over the same period of time, was itself “not solidly backed by scientific or technical evidence”, according to the EU farming organisation.
“We find it even more difficult to see how an 80% reduction target could be justified,” Copa Cogeca said.
As well as that, the group said that the draft proposal would “add massive obligatory and legal constraints for member states and farmers which appear simply unmanageable”.
“We continue to be left with an approach that is fully disconnected from the realities experienced by farmers,” the statement added.
“Let us recall that all studies carried out in the Farm to Fork Strategy, based on the commission’s 50% target approach, point in the same direction: A significant reduction in production, additional costs for consumers…and a massive carbon leakage effect towards [non-EU] countries who will produce a substantial part of our food.”
Copa Cogeca said: “We need to remember that for the past decade everywhere in Europe, farmers and co-operatives have been engaged and committed to input reductions and the use of alternatives solutions to synthetic plant protection products.
“However, we need time, new tools, and financial and political support to continue this path,” the organisation stressed.
The statement added: “We share the general objective of reducing inputs…but we warn that a simplistic target-based policy approach will be the most damaging and least effective solution for EU farming.”