European Union policy on pesticides: implications for agriculture in Ireland

Abstract

European Community (EC) legislation has limited the availability of pesticide active substances used in effective plant protection products. The Pesticide Authorisation Directive 91/414/EEC introduced the principle of risk assessment for approval of pesticide active substances. This principle was modified by the introduction of Regulation (EC) 1107/2009, which applies hazard, the intrinsic toxicity of the active substance, rather than risk, the potential for hazard to occur, as the approval criterion. Potential impacts of EC pesticide legislation on agriculture in Ireland are summarised. While these will significantly impact on pesticide availability in the medium to long term, regulations associated with water quality (Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC and Drinking Water Directive 1998/83/EC) have the potential to restrict pesticide use more immediately, as concerns regarding public health and economic costs associated with removing pesticides from water increase. This rationale will further reduce the availability of effective pesticide active substances, directly affecting crop protection and increasing pesticide resistance within pest and disease populations. In addition, water quality requirements may also impact on important active substances used in plant protection in Ireland. The future challenge for agriculture in Ireland is to sustain production and profitability using reduced pesticide inputs within a framework of integrated pest management.

Pesticide Use in Northern Ireland’s Arable Crops from 1992–2016 and Implications for Future Policy Development

“…This strategy effectively comprised Regulation (EC) 1107/2009 relating to placing plant protection products on the market, Directive 2009/128/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides and Regulation (EC) 1185/2009 on the collection of pesticide usage data. It is also considered that Directive 2000/60/EC, which established a framework for Community action on water policy would also impact on the use of pesticides long-term [4]. In 2009, the EU adopted a "hazard-based" approach to the approval of active substances under Regulation 1107/2009.…”

Assessment of water-limited winter wheat yield potential at spatially contrasting sites in Ireland using a simple growth and development model

“…The mild temperatures and high rainfall incidence that characterise the climate of Ireland are also very conducive to the incidence and rapid spread of Septoria tritici blotch (STB), caused by Zymoseptoria tritici, which is the foliar disease that has the most destructive effect on winter wheat yield in Northwestern Europe (Jess et al, 2014;O'Driscoll et al, 2014). As such, winter wheat crops in Ireland are typically heavily reliant on extensive fungicide programmes and other cultural disease prevention strategies, such as delayed sowing and the use of resistant varieties (O'Driscoll et al, 2014), which may reduce achievable yield.…”

Metrafenone resistance in a population of Erysiphe necator in northern Italy

“…On the other hand, resistance to DMIs is thought to be oligogenic and quantitative, and resistance levels in the field are often low and only rarely result in control failure . Moreover, the use of synthetic pesticides is becoming severely limited owing to the new European Union strategy, which heavily restricts the registration and use of chemicals and favours alternative methods . In this situation, reduced efficacy of a fungicide to control powdery mildew epidemics represents a serious problem, as it may imply resistance in the pathogen population, which could ultimately lead to loss of efficacy of the entire fungicide group.…”