The Future of Crop Protection
VetEffecT is conducting a study for the European Parliament’s Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA) to prepare an overview of options for European farmers to work in a sustainable manner while securing overall food production, preserving biodiversity, and supporting the farmers’ income. Crop protection practices are often associated with the use of plant protection products (PPPs), i.e. pesticides. The EU policy tends to aim at reduction in the use of PPPs. The services provided are:
Part I: Review and Assessment
This part is a technology analysis summarising possible alternative crop protection practices, including an overview of the current practices for the main crops in the EU.
- Deliverable 1: The report on Part I (Review and Explanation) will describe the findings of the review of crop protection practices and their associated assessments and impacts.
Part II: Societal assessment
This part includes a stakeholders’ analysis and summarises the main views and concerns of these stakeholders. It also assesses the outcomes of Part I during a foresight brainstorming on the societal views. Organisation of a brainstorming meeting for envisioning possible impacts and for listing public opinions and concerns with a group of 20 to 25 participants (stakeholder representatives, technical experts, and social scientists) held at the European Parliament premises in Brussels;
- Deliverable 2: Societal assessment report, describing the main positions regarding crop protection as an outcome of the brainstorming event. It will include an overview of the stakeholders, including their positions regarding crop protection, and an assessment of public opinion regarding crop protection
Part III: Reflections and Policy Options
The third and concluding part of the project will give an overview of assessed alternative plant protection practices, for informing the Parliament and feeding into the debate on policy alternatives.
- Deliverable 3: Final report with reflections and policy options
- Deliverable 4: A video script to capture the main results of the study
