Pesticides in the new CAP: business as usual puts nature and human health at risk

Therefore, Member States urgently need to reduce the use and risk of pesticides and deliver the reduction targets of the Farm to Fork Strategy: a 50% reduction in the use and risk of chemical pesticides and in the use of more hazardous pesticides by 2030. [...] In its 2020 report, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) outlined that one of the various problems in achieving the objectives of the SUD was that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) contributed too little to the application of IPM. [...] This is due to a lack of adequate implementation of IPM through the CAP and a lack of commitment of MS to reduce their dependence on the use of pesticides. [...] Despite increased ambitions, according to IFOAM organics Europe, “some countries lack ambition to contribute nationally to the EU’s target of 25% organic farmland by 2030, either in terms of targets, either in terms of weak interventions, and low budgets to develop organic farming.”8 The impact indicator I.18 will be used to evaluate the impact of the CAP and the extent to which Member States redu. [...] As a result, these schemes are not capable of integrating new non-chemical alternatives 8 into the systems in the short term, nor are they able to support farmers effectively in their transition towards the uptake of alternatives and the development of organic production systems.”12 The SUD requires farmers to apply eight principles of IPM and to move towards alternative approaches and techniques.