PAN Europe works for a serious reform of the CAP, away from supporting business as usual, and into a model supporting farmers by different means in transitions towards low input farming systems.
Almost 400,000 tons of active substances are sold in the EU to be sprayed on Europe's fields each year. Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) has made a simple overview showing the link between pesticide sale and direct payments of the Common Agricultural Policy (see the graphic below).
One of the big problems with the current CAP is that there are no mandatory instruments to encourage a transition towards a low inputs farming. The only mandatory requirement is, farmers must use pesticides approved for use in Europe. Member States can – but do not have to - offer farmers financial compensation for reduced use of pesticides. However, there are no mandatory requirements in the CAP stating that in order to receive direct payment farmers have to make plans on reducing pesticide use and have to prove that they apply integrated pest management although this has been mandatory for farmers to apply since January 2014.
