The EU's new pesticide rules, if legislated, will reduce crop yields and affect food prices and stock levies. Unfortunately, the UK's lobbying may not be enough to stop them.
The EU Farm Council recently approved of EU Commission's compromise on the new pesticide authorisation rules. However, this is not the end of the matter as the legislation has to go back to the European Parliament for a second reading before returning to council. But, if anything, parliament wants further regulation, which does not bode well for the industry.
The UK Government has been listening to the concerns of the farming industry and was one of only four countries to abstain from the vote – all other member states were in favour of the new rules. Abstaining was a better option than voting 'against' as this would have prejudiced the UK's involvement in the debate when the legislation comes back to council.
The UK's case for abstaining is that the commission has not undertaken a proper impact assessment. A recent study by the UK's Pesticide Safety Directorate shows that the new rules would result in a major loss of commonly used insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. This would almost certainly result in reduced yields of cereals, potatoes and field vegetables.
The UK industry's argument is that this is taking place during a time of increasing food prices and fears of food shortages. Furthermore, and most importantly, the chemicals likely to be banned have been proven safe in risk assessments under current strict rules. Added to this is the concern that reduced production within the EU will only lead to additional imports from the rest of the world, where these same chemicals will not be banned. If additional imports are shown to have measurable residues of 'banned pesticides', the commission will have to block imports, which would trigger World Trade Organisation trade problems.
Having lost the first round in council, UK lobbying will need to reach even higher levels in order to prevent this potentially disastrous legislation from taking effect (possibly passing into law by March 2009). If this were to happen, we would not feel the impact for several years because of transitional arrangements. Nevertheless, the UK industry and European consumers will be heading for a rather different crop production scene, with little time to find alternative ways to maintain yields and quality.
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