AgroPages-Danish farmers using less pesticide in 2013-Agricultural news

The latest statistics from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) revealed that the agricultural sector in Denmark purchased 29% less pesticide in 2013 compared to the year before.

But the environment minister Kirsten Brosbøl wants to reduce pesticide use even further and the goal is to reduce the effects of pesticide use, figures from 2011, by 40% by 2015.

“We must take care of our nature and environment and so we need to reduce pesticide use,” Brosbøl said in a press release.

“The falling sales numbers indicate that the new pesticide tax is working as it should. But it is still too early to celebrate as the farmers have hoarded the pesticide and now have stocks of them. So we are unable to see the full effect of the tax restructuring until 2015.”

As was the case earlier, the statistics include calculations of the consequences of pesticide based on how much has been sold, but over the last couple of year there are also numbers on actual use, which is also waning.

Brosbøl said that it looks as if the farmers are now using pesticide only when needed and due to a drop in fungal disease in the agricultural sector recently, pesticide use has dwindled.