Pesticides: A Model That’s Costing Us Dearly
The growing presence of pesticides in our daily lives is intrinsically linked to the agricultural revolution of the 20th century, through which a new paradigm spread to the four corners of the Earth. It is a paradigm that has been strongly supported by public authorities, who have claimed that its goal is to improve global food security. The paradigm is based on four interdependent pillars’ : motorized and industrialized
agricultural machinery; synthetic fertilizers; hybrid seeds; and, consequently,
widespread use of synthetic pesticides.
The increases in yields that ensued from setting up this paradigm have long served
to justify the systemic use of pesticides. However, the question of the negative impact
of pesticides has gradually become a major topic in public discussions and policies.
In fact, French President Emmanuel Macron even pledged, at the opening of the most
recent IUCN Congress, to take advantage of the French presidency of the EU in 2022
to work towards an accelerated phase-out of pesticides?. This is theoretically a more
radical stance than that of the European Union, which has set a target of a 50%
reduction in pesticide use in Member States by 2030,
However, this objective is far from receiving unanimous support from the agricultural
and food sectors. The major farmers’ unions and agribusiness lobbies put forward the
economic benefits derived from pesticide production and use, as well as the potential
economic risks and losses that they claim could result from pesticide reduction”.
The debate between pro- and anti-pesticide protagonists is in full swing, and the
controversy is all the more complicated because access to economic data on pesticides is limited. Indeed, the pesticide industry publishes few figures, and the business secrets involved make verification difficult, if not impossible.
Against this backdrop, the main goal of our research was to render the various economic arguments of the debate as objective as possible, all the while including the socio-environmental issues linked to pesticide use into this analysis.
At a time when the main EU public policies on this topic are being discussed or arbitrated (Common Agricultural Policy, Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive, etc.), we hope that our findings will help fuel public discussion on these issues and be of aid in drafting
recommendations that are consistent with the major social and environmental
challenges of the years to come.
Area of focus: Cocoa
Organisation/institution: BASIC