In recent years, more and more voices have called for a reduction of the use of pesticides. Those calls are now also strongly supported by the European Commission: the recently published Farm to Fork Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy propose a 2030 reduction target of the risk and use of plant protection products. What is sometimes underrated is that users of pesticides resort to the use of those products for necessity, to prevent crop losses due to insects, diseases and weeds.
The possibility to reduce the need for input they have to purchase combined with stable or even improved crop productivity is certainly something farmers would find appealing.
A compromise solution that enables reduced use of pesticides, in this case glyphosate-based herbicides, while maintaining crop health and good yield, is the deployment of innovative and precision farming techniques that make use of digital technologies.
There are new technologies that capture data on the status of the soil remotely, analyse the digital images they produce, and use this information to identify the need for herbicides or fertilizers in specific spots across the field they are surveilling.
Read More Precise application technologiesOver the past 30 years glyphosate has become the most important herbicide in global agriculture.
Read More Delivering pesticide reductionThe deployment of digital solutions for precision farming has a twofold positive impact.
Read More Environmental and economic benefits