LW-R-5: Sales and application of pesticides | Umweltbundesamt

LW-R-5: Sales and application of pesticides

Climate change will lead to major fluctuations in the occurrence of pest organisms and in their control by means of pesticides. Suitable adaptation strategies should help curb the sale of pesticides and prevent an increase in the intensity of plant protection. So far, domestic sales of pesticides have not indicated any particular trend. Currently, it is not possible to make any statements on trends regarding the treatment index.

Targeted application of pesticides

It is not yet possible to make any tangible forecasts regarding the impacts of climatic conditions and weather patterns on the infestation or infection with pest organisms of agricultural crops. It is undeniable, however, that pest organisms can respond very sensitively and spontaneously to changed weather conditions; this requires agricultural and horticultural businesses to respond flexibly and with the utmost speed in order to get plant protection problems under control.

Precautionary measures have become ever more important for agricultural businesses in order to ensure that crops are healthy and sufficiently resilient to buffer extreme weather events and latent infestation scenarios. This involves careful monitoring of crops within the framework of integrated plant protection and with due consideration of resistance management in the application of pesticides, while giving priority to the application of non-chemical plant protection agents. The National Action Plan for Sustainable use of Plant Protection Products (NAP) adopted by the Federal Government and the German Länder aims to further reduce the potential risks posed by the application of pesticides, and to limit the application of chemical pesticides to what is absolutely essential. It is intended that the NAP become an integral part of the new overall concept adopted by BMEL in order to reduce the use of pesticides. This concept is in line with the European Farm to Fork strategy which aims at reducing the application and the risk involved in the use of pesticides overall by 50 %¹¹³.

Climate change can result in changing the first occurrence and development as well as the infection or infestation conditions of various pest organisms (cf. Indicator LW-I-4). The appropriate response proposed is the targeted monitoring of crops as well as conformity with and – where necessary – adaptation of benchmark values as required for effective control. In practice this means that production systems will have to be adapted and that increased investments will be required in up-to-date and improved systems for forecasting and also regarding assistance in decision-making.

When interpreting long-term data series on the sale of pesticides and the intensity of plant protection, it should be borne in mind that, apart from weather-related causes, developments are influenced by a considerable number of other factors. If, as a result of circumstances, measures – such as an increased specialisation – taken by agricultural businesses, lead to restricting their crop rotation practices, this could potentially entail an increase in pesticide problems. It is also important to remember that decisions to minimise tillage – in the interest of better soil protection and increased humus production – can result in increased weed growth competing with crop plants. In other words, management decisions can bring about an increased use of herbicides or pesticides if their use becomes inevitable as a last resort, in line with the principles of integrated plant protection.

The indicator illustrates the domestic sale of pesticides. This does not permit inferring any conclusions regarding the intensity of application or any associated risks. In the course of the past twenty years, the amounts sold have not changed to any relevant extent. If the spectrum of pest organisms changes as a result of climate change – for instance because individual groups of organisms benefit particularly from warmer weather patterns – it is conceivable that this development may be reflected also in the amounts of certain categories of pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides) sold, or in respect of the amounts of other agents / groups of agents sold. It is of interest to note that – at least among the categories of pesticides – no such shifts have been identified yet for the past twenty years. However, more targeted research would be required in order to identify the actual relationships with climate change underlying these developments.

While interpreting the data on sales volumes, it should be borne in mind that pesticides contain different amounts of active ingredients. However, there is no direct link between the ecotoxicological risks and the content of active ingredients. Therefore, any assessment of the risk potential is possible only with the aid of suitable risk indicators. Basically, regarding the development of pesticide sales, it has to be taken into account that the certification scenario can also be influenced by (global) political circumstances. For example, bottlenecks in supplies from China resulting from the country’s zero-Covid policy, and recently the energy crisis owing to the war in Ukraine, have led to substantial price increases regarding pesticides, especially in respect of herbicides. Such developments can entail reduced sales figures.

The treatment index makes it possible to make statements on the intensity of the application of pesticides¹¹⁴. It offsets the number of applications made per annum by the amounts used per spraying operation in relation to the highest permitted application quantity for the respective crop and indication. Any increase or decrease in the application intensity of pesticides is expressed in terms of rising or falling treatment indices.

In 2018 a methodological modification took place regarding the calculation of the treatment index. As a result of this modification, the indicator now calculates the intensity of the pesticide application in more detail. This adjustment caused a break in the time series which makes it currently impossible to provide a trend analysis. Besides, it is generally difficult to carry out trend interpretations in this context, as there are multiple factors of influence to be taken into account, alongside the weather
patterns prevailing in any specific year. In this case too, targeted analyses would be required in order to facilitate a quantification of the influence of climate change.

Suitable adaptation strategies should help to prevent an increased intensity in the application of pesticides, despite any existing challenges associated with climate change.

^{113 - Informationen des BMEL zum Nationaler Aktionsplan zur nachhaltigen Anwendung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln: https://www.bmel.de/DE/themen/landwirtschaft/pflanzenbau/pflanzenschutz/aktionsplan-anwendung-pflanzenschutzmittel.html.}

^{114 - BMEL (Hg.) 2017: Nationaler Aktionsplan zur nachhaltigen Anwendung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln. Bonn, 97 pp. https://www.nap-pflanzenschutz.de/fileadmin/SITE_MASTER/content/Startseite/NAP_2013-2__002_.pdf.}