2022 update: ENDURE's Glyphosate report available in French

Despite being the most widely used herbicide in the world and the subject of controversy regarding its direct and indirect effects, little information is available on the quantitative aspects of glyphosate, such as its use in European countries. This has now been addressed with the publication of an ENDURE report, 'A survey on the uses of glyphosate in European countries'. As of March 2022, this report is also available in French.

Coordinated by researchers from Belgium’s Université Catholique de Louvain, France’s INRAE (formerly INRA), Denmark’s Aarhus University and Germany’s JKI, the report has been written by a pan-European panel of experts.

The survey on the uses of glyphosate and existing alternatives was launched last year and over the course of 60 pages the report presents an analysis of the data gathered. In particular, it focuses on the relative importance of glyphosate compared to other pesticides in Europe, where in Europe it is most used, the cropping systems and agronomic purposes for which glyphosate is used and the lock-in factors that hinder the substitution of glyphosate with alternative practices.

The report presents data on glyphosate sales in 25 countries, alongside estimates for seven countries for which no data could be obtained. It says: “The total sales of glyphosate are estimated at 46,527 tonnes of a.i. (active ingredient) in 2017 across the EU 28+3 (49,427  tonnes of a.i. across the EU 28+4). Overall, sales of glyphosate represent 33% of total herbicide sales in the EU 28+3. Therefore, glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in European agriculture.”

It adds: “The countries with the highest average use of glyphosate per hectare in 2017 were Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal and France (> 0.32 kg of a.i. per ha of UAA), while the countries with the lowest average use of glyphosate were Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, UK and Switzerland (<0.12 kg of a.i. per ha of UAA)."

The report provides a framework for understanding and monitoring glyphosate use, based on the identification of the cropping systems in which glyphosate is used, the agronomic purposes for which it is used and the nature of this use (from occasional to systematic).

The report says: “In the agricultural sector, glyphosate is widely used in annual cropping systems, perennial tree crops and grasslands. Overall, the survey shows that the herbicide is widely used for at least eight agronomic purposes.

“In annual cropping systems, glyphosate is mostly used for controlling weeds and volunteers prior to sowing, shortly after sowing of the crop (at the pre-emergence stage) or at the post-harvest stage. It is also used for the destruction of cover crops, and for ensuring the desiccation of certain annual crops at the pre-harvest stage. Annual cropping systems in which glyphosate is used include a large variety of crops (such as maize, oilseed rape, cereals, legume crops, sugar and fodder beet etc.).

“In perennial crops (such as vineyards, fruit orchards, olives groves etc.), glyphosate is used for controlling weeds within or between crop rows. Finally, glyphosate is used for the termination of temporary grassland, for local control of perennial weeds in permanent grassland and for grassland renewal.”

Different approaches to using glyphosate were identified through the survey. In the report, a classification is proposed into occasional uses , recurrent uses related to structural conditions  and systematic uses that are not related to structural conditions.

To quote the report: Antier, C., Andersson, R., Auskalnien, O., Bari, K., Baret, P., Besenhofer, G., Calha, I., Carrola Dos Santos, S., De Cauwer, B., Chachalis, D., Dorner, Z., Follak, S., Forristal, D., Gaskov, S., Gonzalez Andujar, J. L., Hull, R., Jalli, H., Kierzek, R., et al. (2020). A survey on the uses of glyphosate in European countries. INRAE. https://doi.org/10.15454/A30K-D531

For more information:

• Download the report in English here:
  ENDURE_Glyphosate_Report [pdf - 2.15 MB]

• Download the report in French here:
  ENDURE_Glyphosate_Rapport_FR [pdf - 2.47 MB]