The old Sustainable Use Directive for the safe use of pesticides is due to be superseded by a new Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR) in 2023.
This will have a significant impact on the amount of plant protection products (PPPs) or pesticides allowed, and how they are used into the future.
According to Teagasc, the current Farm to Fork strategy sets out two targets for pesticides. The first relates to the 50% reduction in the use and associated risk of chemical pesticides by 2030. In tandem with this is an objective to increase the use of integrated pest management (IPM).
The second target aims to reduce by 50% the use of more hazardous pesticides by 2030 in favour of less hazardous alternatives.
Sustainable Use Regulation
The proposed SUR also establishes additional requirements for the use, storage, sale and disposal of PPPs, pesticide application equipment (PAE), training, awareness raising, and for the implementation of IPM.
All of these matters will have a direct impact on the tillage sector moving forward.
The overall impact of the SUR will be felt not just in agriculture, but also in public places, and it will also attempt to regulate how advice is given to the end user of the pesticide.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the EU have opened a consultation process for anyone to express their concerns or opinions on this new regulation, and there is an open invitation for farmers, consultants, advisors or members of the public to engage in the consultation until January 20, 2023.
Teagasc is also calling on all farmers to air their views on how pesticides are used and regulated into the future.
There is little doubt that the variety of crop-related chemicals available to farmers is set to fall-off dramatically over the coming years. For one thing, the cost of coming up with new formulations is extremely prohibitive.
Consumers want safe, healthy, food that has been produced in ways that are at one with the environment and the need for improved conservation.
There is also little doubt that improved breeding can help in making crops inherently more resistant to disease, according to Teagasc.
But how does one deal with the weed problem? Improved mechanical systems may well provide us with part of this answer.
But when ground conditions start to deteriorate, as they so often do, one question remains – what happens then?