Innovation requires science-based policymaking

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Friedhelm Schmider, Director General, European Crop Protection Association

Innovation is THE catchword for European policymakers – “paving the way to future success in a globalised economy and a changing environment.” But beyond the promotion, are we really prepared to champion innovation, and all that it entails?

Our industry manufactures crop protection products, the pesticides that, however unpopular and misconstrued, are essential to ALL forms of agriculture. We are a science-based industry and innovative by nature. Our products are constantly being adapted in response to nature, to combat food destroying organisms that are themselves constantly adapting – and will do so more often and faster as a result of climate change. We are continually improving our products to make them safer and kinder to the environment. And we have achieved impressive results: farmers today have the best set of safe, environmentally sound tools, ever, to protect our food supply and to avoid the food crises and ecological damage that have plagued us throughout history. This achievement is also the result of a very productive and realistic exchange over the years with Europe’s legislators, a relationship which, in the past, has had a firm scientific foundation.

Our industry’s innovative nature will certainly be tested again to meet an even bigger challenge ahead: increasing agricultural productivity. As world leaders at the recent G8 summit made clear, we will need to double food production to feed a global population of 9 billion by 2050. It seems obvious that innovation will be essential to meet this challenge. Simply bringing more land into production is not an option for many reasons, not the least of which is the preservation of biodiversity and greenhouse gas reduction. If adapting to nature and human population growth weren’t challenge enough, EU agriculture is also constantly adapting to new legislative criteria. Safety and environmental standards have become more and more demanding, which is a good thing to which we are strongly committed. But the new evaluation criteria for pesticides have veered away from science toward ideology, which has disconnected the legislative vision from agricultural reality, the way our food is actually produced. As a result, the farmer’s tools for fighting plant disease could be reduced below the critical point, with no appreciable gain in health and safety; quite the opposite in fact. At stake is our food supply and affordable nutrition for all.

The new regulatory apparatus makes it possible to restrain farm productivity and the efficient use of limited land resources, elevating food prices when reduced income is a reality for many people. Isn’t it time to put the maintenance of an affordable supply of healthy food back on the policy balance and to use the best science to determine the trade-offs? Innovation in fighting plant disease is critical to food production and can only be achieved through high quality science; likewise, agricultural policy must also be founded in science, and science-based risk assessment, if it is to champion innovation.

The world faces huge challenges – climate change, population growth and food shortages are perhaps the greatest. Is there any way, other than science-based innovation, for Europe to rise up and meet these challenges? Our industry stands ready to do its part, to work with legislators and to innovate in sustaining our food supply. We ask Europe’s policymakers to put the best in science back at the heart of EU policymaking. It is the only way to foster innovation and realise its benefits.

What the Chiefs Say is a new public affairs platform designed for senior executives from leading organizations to voice their policies and priorities. In this first issue, business leaders present their expectations and concerns on the direction of European policymaking to the incoming European Commission and the new European Parliament.

All contributions in this section:

Frank Appel, CEO, Deutsche Post DHL Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell plc Hannes Ametsreiter, Chief Executive Officer, Telekom Austria Marc Grynberg, Chief Executive Officer, Umicore Friedhelm Schmider, Director General, European Crop Protection Association Esa Härmälä, Director General, European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association Rick Wilberforce, President, EuroACE Gerard Hartsink, Chair, European Payments Council Jean-Pierre Houri, Director General, IFRA – International Fragrance Association Wouter Lox, Managing Director, EuSalt Isabelle Muller, Secretary General, EUROPIA