In yesterday's vote on the report of the European Parliament's Environment Committee (ENVI) on Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), a narrow majority voted in favor of the recommendations of rapporteur Sarah Wiener (Greens). The German Farmers' Association (DBV) criticizes the fact that another opportunity to jointly achieve the goals set in the Farm-to-Fork strategy has been missed. “Obviously, ideology has once again triumphed over the cooperative approach,” said DBV Secretary General Bernhard Krüsken. “This is very unfortunate, because the blanket bans proposed here, without any connection to nature conservation and with excessive bureaucracy, would not help nature and would harm agriculture.”

After lengthy deliberations, the Environment Committee voted today on the recommendations, which will now be passed on to Parliament. There was a narrow majority in favor of blanket bans on all chemical-synthetic agents that are not classified as low-risk active ingredients. Since there are currently no sufficient alternatives, this would effectively mean the end of conventional agriculture. The definition of what constitutes a sensitive area should be determined at Member State level. According to the DBV's assessment, this will lead to increased distortions of competition due to differences in reporting. The other points of the proposal, such as an excessive and completely impractical documentation requirement and a further tightening of the already excessive reduction targets, confirm the impression that the MPs still do not understand or ignore the considerable burdens that will be placed on agriculture if the proposals are made be implemented.