Faced with a lack of available plant protection products for minor uses and speciality crops in Europe, Copa and Cogeca outlined at a Global Summit in Chicago today the need for increased research and investment to find new plant protection products and alternative solutions to ensure competitiveness.
The Summit bought together 30 countries and 170 participants to debate the growing worldwide problem and to share information and facilitate partnerships for data generation.
“Speciality crops” applies in particular to fruit and vegetables, seeds, flowers and plants that need a tailor made pesticide product for their protection, whether it be for growing them, storage or transportation. There is a foreseeable reduction in available solutions for their protection, posing major difficulties for their cultivation. Maintaining viable and permanent solutions for specialty crops, such as strawberries, and minor uses is key for their competitive and sustainable production, representing both an important part of the European agricultural economy and ensuring a varied, healthy and nutritious diet for all.
Speaking at the Summit, Luc Peeters, Chairman of Copa-Cogeca’s Phytosanitary Questions Working Party said “We welcome the initiative to debate worldwide this growing problem and to step up coordination and share data.. If no solution is found to this problem, production will drop in Europe and worldwide. These sectors also are important for the EU from an economic point of view, representing about 20-22% of the value of the EU total agricultural production. We have to take the lead together with the USA”.
“Action must be stepped”, he warned pointing out that “EU farmers and agri-cooperatives face tough constraints, with the EU authorities reluctant to deal with the situation or tackle unfair and abuse practices in the food chain. The plant protection industry also is not bringing enough solutions to the market. We welcome the EU decision to establish a Coordination Facility in the EU for Minor Uses and Speciality Crops to coordinate efforts and we will see the proof of its success in terms of practical solutions available to growers. We also need to have a bottoms up approach which ensures farmers and agri-cooperatives involvement to ensure a viable sector”.
