EU Commission proposes cutting pesticides by half by 2030

The Associated Press ^ | June 22, 2022 | By SAMUEL PETREQUIN

[Oldeconomybuyer]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm on Wednesday proposed setting legally binding targets to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030 and a ban on all pesticide use in areas such public parks, playgrounds and schools.

The European Commission said the current rules limiting the use of pesticides were too weak and have not been applied consistently across the EU.

A study by the group Pesticide Action Network Europe last month said the contamination of fruit and vegetables produced in the European Union with the most toxic pesticides has substantially increased over the past decade.

To facilitate the transition from chemical pesticides to alternative methods, farmers would be able to use EU funds to cover the cost of the new requirements for five years, the European Commission said.

The commission also wants to introduce a law aimed at repairing environmental damage by 2050.

[Gay State Conservative]

A good idea...if your goal is to cut food production by two-thirds.

[hinckley buzzard]

That will certainly help with the food shortage.

[hardspunned]

The regime should have given us heads up about their other ongoing plan to cut fertilizer by 2/3.

[Tell It Right]

The EU that's trying to force people to take the experimental clot shots are the same EU that doesn't want to harm pests with chemicals.

That makes less sense than an Ole Miss fan bragging on defense.

[BitWielder1]

A return to the Agrarian Society, where 90% of the population is growing food.
They call this progress.

[BobL]

“EU Commission proposes cutting pesticides by half by 2030”

Since this will greatly decrease their crop yields, one has to assume that they plant to make up their food needs by imports...imports now going to by Third World countries.

So the question is: Why does Europe want people in the Third World to starve?

[butlerweave]

It seams the EU does nothing but reduce and ban ,LOL

[spankalib]

A return to the Agrarian Society, where 90% of the population is growing food. They call this progress.

Interesting. It's a dream to move out to the country, raise my own food. Be self-sufficient. It's 'progress' to me - to get away from cities.

I'm constantly watching (with no small amount of awe) the skills of people like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTHRIwPV7Xo

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIix6MklfJFywa_36iDj8Sw

that last one has over 4 million subscribers.

Please understand, I'm not quibbling with you. As I said, it's just "interesting".

[spankalib]

LOL, and the first one has almost 7 million subscribers!

[Pollard]

It would actually be a good thing if there were a lot more small farms and more local/regional distribution chains. Much more resilience than Big AG.

[BitWielder1]

If it's voluntary, fine. But to force millions of people to dig in the dirt for their food when they are used to supermarket shelves, that's cruel.
The reason we have farm machinery and pesticides is that the old way was very labor intensive with 16 hours a day of back breaking work.
It still is, but the greenies have forgotten that part.

[Nifster]

Then don’t plan on anything that isn’t locally grown. For most that means no lettuce no avacado no asparagus no citrus etc etc

You can live as we did in the fifties …. Potatoes corn tomatoes

[DoughtyOne]

Exactly!

Another attack on the food supply...

[Pollard]

If it's voluntary, fine.

Definitely voluntary. Need to get more young people interested in it and provide the education with teaching farms.

I follow a bunch of market gardeners on youtube and they can grow a lot of food and about the only input is a whole lot of compost. There's a guy in Kentucky that grows lettuce year round. In summer he has to use certain varieties and plan for afternoon shade, use shade cloth too. Mulch helps keep the soil cool. Using high tunnels aka unheated greenhouse, there are a lot of things he can grow year round and everything else has it's season extended by two months on either end. I think he can grow tomatoes 8 or 9 months out of 12.

He does no-till and uses no chemical fertilizers and does almost no pest control and he's organic so what little he does isn't with chemicals. His soil is so healthy from using a lot of compost and never tilling that the plants are healthy enough to where the bugs don't mess with them. Bugs and disease like unhealthy plants. He also plants trap crops, does companion planting and if need be, row cover for protection.

This is part of his farm

Regional and seasonal for many things and ship stuff like citrus, bananas, avocados etc that can only be grown in certain areas. Makes no sense to ship tomatoes and peppers hundreds or thousands of miles year round but that's what's happening, much of it from Central/South America.

Meat is a big one. Need more than four companies, two of them foreign owned, processing meat. I can buy locally raised and processed meats 20 miles away and their prices are in line with grocery store prices. It's a Missouri Dept of AG inspected facility. Much tastier beef than the store and a little more tender too and I know the cattle weren't loaded with antibiotics like the feed lots do.

They probably make a lot more money than all the cattle farmers here that sell at the auction where the cattle then head for the feed lot. Those guys are getting $2/lb at most. The Save-A-Lot grocery store near me has a lot of beef from Brazil. I drive by many hundreds of head of beef cattle on the way to that store. How much sense does that make? A state like Missouri shouldn't need beef shipped in from another state, let alone another country.

It was something else, driving by hundreds of head of cattle to the grocery store and seeing the beef section bare in Spring 2020. I had plenty of meat in the freezer though. Massie's had a bill for years called the PRIME Act to address the issue.

[Pollard]

Guy in Kentucky - growing beets year round.

https://youtu.be/-w1tvgVj-9k?t=76

[Nifster]

I like beets