Consumers choose organic because it's superior to conventionally grown food. However, regulations make it difficult to know what you're buying exactly.
Eye-opening EU-funded study of pesticide residue data highlights need for innovative testing to see how pesticide residue cocktails influence soil health and safety indices of pesticide residue mixtures across systems of exploitation.
Agricultural soils under conventional management contain levels of pesticides up to 10 times higher than soils from organic agriculture, according to various European analyzes in which the University of Córdoba (Spain) participates. Every year they use about three hundred and seventy thousand tons of active substances, the components in pesticides that fight pests and diseases, to achieve this. However, the intensive use of pesticides leaves a mark on European soils. Abandoned waste harms our ecosystems and our health. A team of researchers supported by the EU-funded projects RECARE, iSQAPER and Diverfarming, who aim to provide a clearer picture of pesticide residue levels in European soils, carried out tests on 340 samples of the topsoil layer of 3 European countries. study published in the magazine «Environmental Pollution»
“While in 70% of conventional soils mixtures of up to 16 residues per sample were detected, in organic soils only between 3 and 5 different residues were found. In these combinations, the residues that were found most frequently and in quantity were herbicides such as GLYPHOSATE AND PENDIMETHALIN. The samples were collected between 2015 and 2018, and as there have been no major changes in terms of management, they are indicative of the current situation and probably of other agricultural areas in the EU.
This project emphasizes the need to define and introduce regulations and benchmarks on pesticide cocktails in soils that serve to protect soil health, biodiversity and the quality of crop production. Furthermore, taking into account the persistence of residues even in soils under organic agriculture, it would be necessary to rethink the time necessary for the transition from conventional to organic agriculture, since it should depend on the mixture of residues in the soil and the time it takes to disappear or be harmless.
Biodynamic and regenerative agriculture and associated livestock farming have great advantages to avoid climate change. Governments should promote this advantage for the health of the planet. Some countries are already beginning to feel climate change, pollution and droughts. Of course it would be very convenient to tax industries that pollute. In Europe, agreements are already being reached in this regard for the coming years, in the so-called green tax. The greatest tax burden should fall on the activities that are most harmful to the environment. Only in this way are the changes necessary to reduce emissions induced.
Eye-opening EU-funded study of pesticide residue data highlights need for innovative testing to see how pesticide residue cocktails influence soil health and safety indices of pesticide residue mixtures across systems of exploitation.
Agricultural soils under conventional management contain levels of pesticides up to 10 times higher than soils from organic agriculture, according to various European analyzes in which the University of Córdoba (Spain) participates. Every year they use about three hundred and seventy thousand tons of active substances, the components in pesticides that fight pests and diseases, to achieve this. However, the intensive use of pesticides leaves a mark on European soils. Abandoned waste harms our ecosystems and our health. A team of researchers supported by the EU-funded projects RECARE, iSQAPER and Diverfarming, who aim to provide a clearer picture of pesticide residue levels in European soils, carried out tests on 340 samples of the topsoil layer of 3 European countries. study published in the magazine «Environmental Pollution»
“While in 70% of conventional soils mixtures of up to 16 residues per sample were detected, in organic soils only between 3 and 5 different residues were found. In these combinations, the residues that were found most frequently and in quantity were herbicides such as GLYPHOSATE AND PENDIMETHALIN. The samples were collected between 2015 and 2018, and as there have been no major changes in terms of management, they are indicative of the current situation and probably of other agricultural areas in the EU.
This project emphasizes the need to define and introduce regulations and benchmarks on pesticide cocktails in soils that serve to protect soil health, biodiversity and the quality of crop production. Furthermore, taking into account the persistence of residues even in soils under organic agriculture, it would be necessary to rethink the time necessary for the transition from conventional to organic agriculture, since it should depend on the mixture of residues in the soil and the time it takes to disappear or be harmless.
http://www.diverfarming.eu/index.php/es/noticias/714-revelan-el-impacto-de-70-anos-de-uso-de-pesticidas-en-los-suelos-europeos (2021)
https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/430355-organic-soils-soundly-beat-conventional-soils-in-pesticide-residue-level-stakes/en (2921)
http://www.diverfarming.eu/index.php/es/noticias (2021)
https://www.revistascca.unam.mx/rica/index.php/rica (2021)
Biodynamic and regenerative agriculture and associated livestock farming have great advantages to avoid climate change. Governments should promote this advantage for the health of the planet. Some countries are already beginning to feel climate change, pollution and droughts. Of course it would be very convenient to tax industries that pollute. In Europe, agreements are already being reached in this regard for the coming years, in the so-called green tax. The greatest tax burden should fall on the activities that are most harmful to the environment. Only in this way are the changes necessary to reduce emissions induced.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Environmental_tax_statistics (2019)
http://efdinitiative.org/sites/default/files/environmental20taxes20in20europe20-20kohlin_0.pdf
This report, What environmental benefits does organic agriculture produce?, is very complete, analyzing the following points:
1. Long-term sustainability.
2. Water
3. Air
4. Biodiversity
5. Genetically modified organisms
6. Ecological services
http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/es/
The codes are very helpful!