EU actions towards more sustainability in �plant protection

Global Minor Uses Summit

7 Feb 2024

Klaus Berend

Director Food Safety, Sustainability and Innovation

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�Farm to Fork Strategy

The Farm to Fork Strategy aims to accelerate a transition to a sustainable food system that should:

• have a neutral or positive environmental impact
• help to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts
• reverse the loss of biodiversity
• ensure food security, nutrition and public health, making sure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, sustainable food
• preserve affordability of food while generating fairer economic returns, fostering competitiveness of the EU supply sector and promoting fair trade.

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The strategy sets out both regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives in the form of an action plan.

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�Farm to Fork and pesticides

SUSTAINABLE USE OF PESTICIDES – IPM

Pesticides are highly regulated in the EU

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�Availability of ‘non-chemical’ solutions

Trends in applications for new active substances

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Activities on micro-organisms used in PPP

Completed/available

On-going

• Guidance document on Metabolites of Concern (Oct 2020)
• Guidance document on AMR (May 2021)
• Four implementing Regulations (applicable as from Nov 2022)

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• List recommended test methods/ guidance documents
• Support dossier-preparation
• Not legally binding
• Endorsed in March 2023
• Additional database of useful guidance documents

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• Support understanding of the new EU Reg
• Support dossier-preparation
• Harmonise risk assessment and risk management
• Not legally binding
• Endorsed at PAFF October

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• IUCLID
• New test methods (OECD)
• Consensus documents on MO species
• Background level on MO species

Other biocontrol agents

• Pheromones: amendment of the GD on semiochemicals to extend the group of pheromones beyond the SCLP group – (Endorsed in Jan 2024)
• Others (e.g., iRNA, peptides): based on need-to-know approach (e.g. via point 1.5 introduction data requirements) and along the draft “Problem Formulation” document (Endorsed in Jan 2024)

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Strenghtening Member States capacity

• Better Training for Safer Food – Risk Assessment on Micro-organisms
• since July 2021
• target: risk assessors
• as of today, 10 sessions held and 323 risk assessors were trained
• training session still ongoing until March 2025

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• Grants for MS to assess plant protection products
• €10 Million allocated to 6 MS (AT, EE, ES, LT, LV, and SK).
• focusing on priority review of biocontrol

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F2F strategy and SUR proposal call for strengthening IPM practices and application techniques with reduced impacts

Use of resistant varieties

Plant Genetics

Digitalisation

Mechanics

New Polymers

Precision techniques

New biologicals

Some perspectives for minor uses

• Pesticides policy in EU is evolving:
• New political objectives: Green Deal, Farm2Fork, IPM, bio-control based solutions first
• New elements in the risk assessment (ED, …): less chemical hazardous active substances
• New types of active substances: MO, semiochemicals, plant extracts, RNAi, Peptides,…
• New types of application techniques: digital and precision techniques

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• Calling for more creativity in the way minor uses “gaps” are filled:
• IPM first
• New tools outside plant protection products
• Research projects (Minor Uses Coordination Facility)
• Networking and cooperation between research and extension or farmers groups (DG AGRI – “AKIS”: Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems)

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Thank you��For further information:�https://food.ec.europa.eu/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en �https://food.ec.europa.eu/plants/pesticides/sustainable-use-pesticides_en�https://food.ec.europa.eu/plants/pesticides/micro-organisms_en��Disclaimer: the views expressed in this presentation are personal and cannot be interpreted as official views of the European Commission���

© European Union 2020

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