Next French pesticide reduction plan will drop targets

Prime minister promises boost to research in third Ecophyto agricultural R&D plan

French prime minister Élisabeth Borne has confirmed the government will publish the third Ecophyto plan to reduce pesticide use by the summer, but that, unlike previous plans, it will not contain use reduction targets.

The previous Ecophyto plan, which was launched in 2015, contained the target for French agriculture to reduce its pesticide use by half by 2025. Figures published in the newspaper Le Monde indicate this is unlikely to happen. The pesticide manufacturers’ industry organisation Phyteis estimates there was a 30 per cent drop in sales by volume between 2008 and 2021, but this preceded eight per cent sales growth in 2021 and a further rise is predicted in 2022.