Food supply directly impacted: Agri-food campaigners flag five-fold rise of heavy pesticide use since 1950

09 Jun 2020 --- Insects are in global decline because of industrial farming and heavy pesticide use, which are posing a direct threat to food production, according to a new analysis entitled Insect Atlas. The report was released by German independent political foundation Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and Friends of the Earth Europe. The organizations flag that pesticide use has risen five-fold since 1950, with over 4 million metric tons sprayed on fields worldwide every year. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the pesticides market is dominated by four companies: BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and Corteva.

“The evidence is clear. Pesticide use is wiping out insect populations and ecosystems around the world and threatening food production. A handful of corporations control the bulk of pesticide supply, and if left unchecked will continue to use their immense political influence to lock in a system of industrial farming, which will continue to wipe out nature and destroy rural communities,” asserts Mute Schimpf, Food and Farming Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe.

This latest analysis follows previous reporting by FoodIngredientsFirst, which examined the vital role of insect pollinators linked to €15 billion (US$16.7 billion) of the EU’s annual agricultural output. Pollinators keep the planet’s ecological system running and ensure consistent food supply. The Insect Atlas outlines that 75 percent of industry’s most important crops depend on pollination by insects. Insects also improve soil quality and reduce plant pests by decomposing manure and dead plant matter.

The analysis also highlights that insect species and pollinators are in severe decline because of pesticide-dependent industrial farming. It reveals that:

• Forty-one percent of insect species are in decline and one-third of all insect species are threatened with extinction.

• Pollinators, which contribute directly to around one-third of global food production, are under threat: at least one in ten bee and butterfly species in Europe is threatened with extinction.

• The explosion in factory farming has led to insect-dense areas of land in Argentina and Brazil being cleared for pesticide-heavy soybean plantations. Worldwide, they now cover 123 million hectares – an area 3.5 times the size of Germany.

“The global loss of insects is dramatic,” stresses Barbara Unmüßig, President of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. “Industrial monocultures with energy or fodder plants for our factory farming are driving  deforestation, monotonous agricultural deserts and the unlimited application of pesticides in countries such as Brazil or Indonesia.”

“In Argentina alone, the use of pesticides has increased tenfold since the 1990s. Pesticides from major chemical companies such as Bayer and BASF, which have long been banned or are no longer licensed in the EU, continue to be traded globally almost without restriction,” she further notes.

Due to an overt lack of regulatory insight, nearly 50 percent of the pesticides in Kenya and over 30 percent in Brazil are highly toxic to bees. “The Mercosur agreement also negotiated a tariff reduction for chemical products, including pesticides. The goal of exporting even more pesticides to the world's most biodiverse regions mocks all national sustainability efforts,” says Unmüßig.

Due to an overt lack of regulatory insight, nearly 50 percent of the pesticides in Kenya and over 30 percent in Brazil are highly toxic to bees.Preventing insect collapse
The Insect Atlas highlights ways in which the EU can support sustainable models of farming that can prevent insect collapse and guarantee food production and good livelihoods for farmers and farmworkers. These include reducing the use of synthetic pesticides by 80 percent in agriculture by 2030, with a just transition for farmers – a proposal backed by over 350,000 EU citizens.

Meanwhile, the analysis supports radically reforming the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to remove harmful untargeted direct payments, setting aside at least 50 percent of the CAP budget for environmental, nature and climate objectives and supporting farmers in the transition to agroecology.

The Biodiversity Strategy and Farm-to-Fork initiative are first steps into a sustainable transition of the European agricultural sector, but are deemed insignificant by Unmüßig. “The CAP has to be reshaped to finally contribute tangibly and decisively to an insect- and climate-friendly agriculture. Just 20 percent of all producers in Europe get 80 percent of CAP subsidies – this can not be justified any longer. Large area subsidies from which only a few big farms benefit have to be redirected into supporting small, environmentally and socially viable farming.”

Friends of the Earth Europe and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung are now calling for a new law to cut pesticide use by 80 percent by 2030, as well as other measures to prepare the way towards fairer and greener food systems.

Toxic Trade
Authored by Pesticide Action Network UK, UK-based agri-food action group Sustain and trade expert Dr. Emily Lydgate, the newly released report Toxic Trade highlights that a rise in exposure to hazardous chemicals could be unavoidable for UK consumers because pesticides are not mentioned on food labels.

“UK consumers are likely to be exposed to larger amounts of more toxic chemicals in their food if trade negotiators from the US have their way,” warns Sustain. This comes alongside new YouGov polling which reveals that almost three quarters (71 percent) of British consumers want the UK Government to resist US attempts to overturn bans on pesticides, even if this means the “best” trade deal cannot be reached.

Concern is now mounting that in the wake of the UK’s exit from the EU, trade deals currently under negotiation with the US, and planned imminently for Australia and India, will drive down UK pesticide standards. This not only risks damaging public health but also the environment as trade negotiators push the UK government to allow currently banned hazardous pesticides to be used in UK farms and gardens.

“In an already uncertain economic climate, the lowering of pesticide standards could be catastrophic for UK farming as well as the environment. If UK farmers are forced into using pesticides in order to compete with a flood of cheap food imports then their exports will no longer meet EU standards and they’ll lose one of their key markets. Sixty percent of UK agricultural exports currently go to the EU so this could finish off many farming businesses,” concludes Vicki Hird, Farm Campaign Coordinator at Sustain.

By Benjamin Ferrer