One ENDURE research team has been working hard to solve this problem, conducting surveys on two very different crops across different regions to pinpoint which pests pose problems and the products or methods farmers use to tackle them.

Compared with other crops, pesticide applications on wheat are comparatively few, but the area devoted to the crop across Europe is very large. Copyright: Alain Fraval, INRA Paris, France.

The team (Research Activity 3.1), comprised of researchers from France, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Germany and Spain, examined the production of winter wheat across five regions: Saxony Anhalt, Germany; north-west of Paris, France; Emilia Romagna, Italy; Wielkoposkie, Poland and the whole of Denmark. They also turned their attention to the production of pomefruit (apples and pears) in five regions: Lake Constance in Germany and Switzerland, France’s Rhône Valley, Lleida in Spain and Emilia Romagna in Italy.

The team found that between 80 and 100% of winter wheat in these regions is treated against diseases (such as powdery mildew, leaf spot, fusarium head or ear blight and brown rust), pests and weeds. Mainly herbicides and fungicides are used, but these products are very rarely used in their full dosages. In fact, only in Italy are pesticides used in their full dosages.

They highlight a range of non-chemical crop protection strategies which are regularly or occasionally used, including crop rotation, choice of variety (sowing wheat varieties that are bred to have resistance to some diseases) and careful choice of sowing date.

Almost all apple trees are treated against diseases such as scab, pictured here. Copyright: Paul Bondoux, INRA Angers, France.

In contrast, pesticides are used in full dosages to protect pomefruit (except for the Lake Constance region of Germany), and almost all trees are treated against diseases such as scab, canker and powdery mildew, and pests such as codling moths.

The researchers note that the number of pesticide applications used to protect wheat is small compared to other crops, but given the total area devoted to producing winter wheat across Europe, even a small reduction would lead to an important overall reduction in pesticide use. This could be achieved by applying reduced dosages of pesticides, as is already common in some areas.

For pomefruit, they suggest better use be made of decision support systems (these help guide farmers on how to deal with pests) and alternative products such as pheromone traps (which attract insect pests).

They also suggest that environmental impacts could be further reduced by reducing or replacing the use of copper and sulphur products in organic apple and pear production, alongside reductions in other toxic products in conventional production systems.