Denmark is planning a tax on pesticides

Denmark wants to introduce a tax on pesticides designed to reduce the use of pesticides, said the Department of the Environment on Thursday.

"The pesticides used in agriculture were much more harmful to the environment than many have believed," said the Environment Minister Ida Auken, quoted in a statement. The tax on pesticides is to "significantly reduce the consumption of farmers, and encourage them to choose the least harmful pesticides to reduce harmful effects on the environment." she said. The cost of some insecticides is from 60 crowns (8 euros) to 400 crowns per hectare, while some ecological pesticides become less expensive for use in the future,  according to the statement. 

The use of pesticides by farmers "became 30% more harmful to nature" in the past three years  between 2007 and 2010, according to the statement, citing a report by the Economic Institute of Food, University of Copenhagen, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus and the Environment Council. "The future of Danish agriculture is to produce agriculture products that are cleaner, safer and more sustainable than in other countries."

The authors of this report have developed a new index that lists the pesticides according to their harmfulness, the statement said. This index, destined to be published annually, will be the basis for determining the taxation of pesticides and measure the effectiveness of the system.