The chief executive of the Crop Protection Association (CPA) has called for policy-makers and consumers to stop “demonising” crop protection products, insisting that their usage will be crucial in tackling the global food shortage the world is facing.

In a Speaker’s Corner session at the show, Dominic Dyer told representatives of the industry: “Crop protection is something we take for granted. We tend to misunderstand and demonise the usage of crop protection products, but without them, 40 per cent of pre- and post-harvest crops would be lost.”

Dyer outlined the 10-15-year timeline it can take to get approval for an active ingredient to form the base of a crop protection product. “Only a few major players have the R&D investment and funds available to develop these kinds of products,” he said.

Legislative changes due to be made to Plant Protection Products Directive 91/414/EE will see 15-20 per cent of all crop protection products taken off the market in the next 10-15 years, said Dyer, despite tough lobbying from the UK government against the proposals. “These rules will be applied, but they won’t be as damaging as they could have been,” he said. “However, these decisions have not been based on good science but on politics and a climate of fear in Europe about pesticides.

“We cannot afford to demonise the use of crop protection tools… We can’t take these products out of the system without impacting on production…

“There is a lot of arrogance in the UK and Europe, that if we can’t grow it here, we will import it… but international trade will come under pressure. There will be volatility on climate change, competition for land and water and EU policy-makers will have to understand crop protection products more than they do, while consumers will have to understand how our food is grown,” he added.

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