A recent Swiss study says that in European countries, a third trend is emerging between regular and organic agriculture: farmers who use no or as few chemicals as possible. In contrast, the Swiss chemical industry complains that there are fewer and fewer effective products available.
Switzerland recently announced an extension of the subsidy for farmers who switch to chemical-free, and German Minister Özdemir has again announced his own German policy to reduce glyphosate.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich (ETH Zurich), highlights the growing importance of the chemistry-free approach. According to the researchers, this is rapidly gaining ground due to growing awareness of possible consequences for people and the environment.
Pesticide-free production systems bieden more flexibility than organic farming. This allows farmers, for example, to avoid using pesticides on certain crops, while continuing to use them on other crops. A complete shift to organic farming requires the entire agricultural business to be converted. In addition, an organic farm must forego not only synthetic inputs, but also other mineral fertilizers, which often results in lower yields.
Since last year, Switzerland and Germany, for example, have compensated farmers who forego synthetic pesticides. Swiss farmers now receive direct payments of between 650 euros (cereals) and 1,400 euros (rapeseed) per hectare for growing without pesticides.
In response, non-EU country Switzerland recently announced it will increase subsidies for farmers who switch to pesticide-free methods. This is intended to stimulate the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices and encourage farmers to move away from chemicals.
The shift to 'not completely organic but chemical-free' has raised concerns within the Swiss chemical industry, which complains about the decreasing availability of effective agents. The aim of the current revision of the regulation is to accelerate the approval of new plant protection products. About 700 applications are waiting for approval, some for more than a decade. The Swiss industry complains that they do this faster even in the EU….
German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir announced new policies last week to reduce the use of glyphosate (and other chemicals). He has also previously announced a glyphosate ban, but was unable to implement it because it conflicts with EU rules. Now it wants to reduce the use of glyphosate by subsidizing the use of non-chemical products.