Survey of regulations concerning pesticides in Sweden and the EU : cultivation techniques and competition aspects for Swedish onion and apple producer

Sammanfattning: As a member of the EU, Sweden has, in some cases, transferred the controlling rights to the Union. This means that the rules defined by the EU must be followed in all member countries, including Sweden. The European Agricultural policy constitutes the largest part of the EU's annual budget and is in contrast to many other areas fully funded at EU level. The last decade, many new regulations on chemicals and pesticides have been introduced which brought great changes and a lot of work throughout the Union, including Sweden. Sweden has always had a strict policy on chemicals and has been at the forefront when it comes to sustainable agriculture and environmental management. For many other member countries, the new EU rules meant cutbacks in the number of approved pesticides while it meant the opposite for Sweden. Most of the products that were previously banned in Sweden have, with the new rules been reintroduced in the country. Despite this, Sweden has by its own continued to ban certain substances. This has forced Swedish producers into a situation where the production in Sweden is based on different rules and conditions in comparison with many other EU member states. This has led to much debate in the media and several projects started to find new solutions for cultivating minor crops. This without some pesticides, previously basic products, in the producers' pest management strategy. It is not only Sweden's stricter rules that led to production differences but also new rules at EU level. EUs new pest regulation (1107/2009) means that Europe nowadays is divided into three distinct climate zones where pesticides must be approved separately in each climate zone. Sweden is part of the North Zone where production, when it comes to minor crops, is in percentage very low compared to the central and southern zone. This means that applications for approval of products in many cases are only made in the central and southern zone where the greatest economic benefit for chemical companies is located. Sweden needs to find other ways to get pesticides approved and are including off-label approval as an option. Alternative routes entail a greater risk for the producers where the guarantees, both for efficiency and selectivity, cannot be given. For both apple and onion, which are the crops examined in this report, the exclusion of pesticides is a big problem to combat. Both crops have a long Swedish tradition but with slightly different conditions. The problem with fungal disease, fruit canker, in apple orchards is widespread, and as the young plants are purchased from abroad where other rules apply it do not help with modern cultivation strategies for avoiding infection. Plant material is often contaminated from the nursery and symptom-free on purchase. Without chemical agents to keep the infection at a low level, breakouts can appear easily and cause huge losses in cultivation. Options to prevent infection include finding resistant varieties and rootstocks for grafting. In the current situation there are no approved fungicides against fruit canker in Sweden. In the rest of Europe Merpan, with the active substance Captan, is approved for use in the cultivation. This product has, since about 10 years, annually been approved an exemption for use in Swedish apple orchards after harvest. When it comes to onion and weed problems, which has become a huge problem without properly functioning pesticides, the greatest difficulty lies in combating weeds with other techniques. The onion has a very poor competitive ability and mechanical weed control methods requires tremendous precision not to damage the bulb's delicate surface. Crop rotation is important to prevent certain types of weeds while others remain intractable. Stomp, with the active substance Pendimethalin, has been banned in Sweden since 2008. Just as Merpan, Stomp has since then been approved annually for use in onion cultivation with exemption. Reasons for banned pesticides lie both in the fact that the substances are banned because of the unfavourable effects. The case usually because of the fact that application for approval has not been sent in or sent in but not been adequate enough. Swedish farmers are now in a period of uncertainty and relies yearly on approved exemptions. Various projects, funded from the Swedish Board of Agriculture and LRF, have been launched to find a viable option, both chemically as well as through other techniques. Swedish farmers feel treated unfairly when the rules are not the same for everyone. They believe that the problem lies not in the fact that substances are banned but more in the fact that they are not banned consistent across Europe.