Europe’s lead organic body IFOAM EU and the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA) are making a joint call for better regulation of natural origin plant protection technologies as part of efforts to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides.
The two organisations today publish a five year roadmap for collaboration to promote the uptake of safe, environmentally friendly and efficient biocontrol technologies of natural origin.
IFOAM EU and IBMA and say they welcome the European Green Deal’s recognition of the role of organic farming and of new innovative techniques to improve the sustainability of the food system. They cite DG SANTE commissioner Stella Kyriakides’ highlighting of the need for “ambitious targets on pesticides and fertilisers to substantially reduce the risks associated with them.”
To make the Green Deal a reality now requires a series of “concrete actions to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides”, IFOAM EU and IBMA say. One way achieve this is to promote the faster registration and uptake of biological plant protection technologies from natural origin.
IBMA and IFOAM EU say biocontrol technologies are an important part of the solution as these products are usually highly specific to one particular pest, they originate in nature, or are identical to nature when synthesised – so the unknown risk is low, and resistance to a product is very rare.
These technologies are commonly used as a complement to preventive and indirect plant protection measures which form the basis of sustainable and organic farming systems.
Only if farmers and gardeners have an adequate number of alternatives to synthetic inputs, can an ecological transformation of the food and farming system can be successful, the two organisations insist.
As the Food and Agriculture Organization launches the United Nations International Year of Plant Health for 2020, IFOAM EU and IBMA have identified seven areas for potential collaboration for the years to come. These include advocating for a “dedicated and proportionate regulatory framework” for biocontrol solutions and “building knowledge and competence on natural origin plant protection in registration authorities and among farmers”.
Very successful examples of natural origin plant protection technologies exist for glasshouse pests, particularly for vegetables. While biocontrol technologies for arable crops are already efficiently used in some European countries, IFOAM EU and IBMA say there is “an urgent need for more solutions adapted to outdoor crops”.