Agriculture: Pest Control

(asked on 16th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure that additional support for UK farmers to undertake integrated pest management will be included in National Action Plan.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 19th November 2020

The revised National Action Plan for the Sustainable use of Pesticides (NAP) will be published for public consultation later this year and is applicable to all pesticide users including local authorities. The consultation document recognises action being taken by some local authorities to encourage phase out of pesticide usage and commits to encouraging an approach where non-essential use of pesticides is avoided.

The NAP consultation puts Integrated Pest Management (IPM) at the heart of our approach to minimise the use of pesticides across all sectors and support the uptake of non-chemical alternatives. Steps are being taken to integrate support for IPM approaches within future agri-environment schemes, for example through Environmental Land Management.

Through the NAP, we aim to minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides to human health and the environment, while ensuring pests and pesticide resistance are managed effectively. We are improving UK indicators of pesticide usage and toxicity in order to track progress against this aim. This work includes the development of a pesticide load indicator, building on the Danish model and tailoring it our domestic circumstances. We have been assessing the role of targets to support the ambitions of the NAP. The first step is to establish a robust baseline through improved indicators to ensure that goals are meaningful and drive the greatest benefit. We are aware of the difficulties experienced by France in meeting reduction targets they have set. Despite an ambitious reduction target, their overall pesticide usage has actually increased. The revision of the NAP provides an opportunity to assess the experiences of the EU and other countries, and set our domestic ambitions for the sustainable use of pesticides.

Reticulating Splines