Pessimism about pesticides regulation not justified

With the European Parliament scheduled to vote on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation in November, this open access article by JRC scientists sets out why fears of negative impacts on production are overblown: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00834-6

Recent studies have estimated the potential yield impacts of pesticide reductions in the European Union. While these estimates guide policy design, they are often based on worst-case assumptions and rarely account for positive ecological feedbacks that would contribute to sustainable crop yields in the long term.

'Protecting crop yields is critical to safeguarding food and feed security. Studies on the potential yield impacts of a reduction in pesticide use and risk in the EU estimated adverse effects. As shown here, the literature suggests that these estimates are upper bounds for several reasons that must be acknowledged in research on the impacts of a pesticide reduction: the full 50% reduction does not fall onto feed and food crops; the heterogeneity in pesticide use across farms, areas and crops can be exploited in reduction plans; risk-based indices allow for progress by substituting active substances; the expansion of the area under organic farming may deliver progress; the SUR facilitates agronomic and technological alternatives to pesticides; and ecosystem services supporting sustainable crop yields will benefit from lower pesticide use. Finally, the SUR improves the availability of data on pesticide use and, in doing so, addresses a bottleneck in research and policy-making concerning more sustainable food systems.'