Insect mortality, loss of biodiversity in the agricultural landscape, and pesticide residues in food? Surely no one wants that. As well as pesticides or their degradation products in the soil, water and air. Nevertheless, around 30,000 metric tonnes of pesticides are applied in Germany every year to combat weeds, insect pests and fungal diseases on crops. The EU Commission has just extended the approval of the controversial active ingredient glyphosate by another year.

But how can a reduction be achieved? We are currently experiencing a controversial debate on this. One thing is clear: the switch is a challenge for which policymakers must pave the way. The urgently needed reduction in pesticides is already anchored as a goal in the German coalition agreement between SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and FDP and also in the EU Commission's Farm to Fork Strategy. However, in order for farmers to be motivated to use non-chemical alternatives, a number of things still need to change. A financial reward is an important part of this.

A variety of alternatives to pesticide use already exist. Organic farming does well without synthetic chemical pesticides, and there are also many farms in conventional agriculture that have already set out to reduce pesticide use.

We cordially invited you to the presentation of the BUND study "Alternatives to chemical-synthetic pesticides in agriculture" and were very pleased about your interest.