Streets instead of fields, protests instead of crops: Farmers from all over the country have come together in Stuttgart to voice their criticism of the EU's latest plans. Also present: their tractors.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Baden-Württemberg farmers vented their anger at the EU's efforts to significantly reduce the use of pesticides on Wednesday. With dozens of tractors, they gathered in front of the Ministry of the Environment in Stuttgart and called for the Brussels plans to be stopped. The farmers are particularly worried about the plan to largely ban conventional and organic pesticides on "sensitive areas".
"We expect a significant correction of the draft law," said organizer Christian Coenen, a farmer from Philippsburg (Karlsruhe district). "We want cooperation and no bans, we want to be at the table when it comes to changes," says the call for protests, which were organized as part of a nationwide day of action. "We are the practitioners, and it is also our future!"
According to the farmers, a general ban on pesticides in the protected areas would mean the end for many farms growing fruit, wine and vegetables, but also for arable farming. "This applies not only to conventional farms, but also to organic farms, because they also have to use pesticides," said Coenen.
Conservationists, on the other hand, called it a fallacy to believe that crop yields could only be secured in the long term with intensive use of pesticides. "The opposite is the case," said Anna Sesterhenn, agricultural consultant for the Baden-Württemberg Nature Conservation Union (Nabu). "In the long term, global food security can only be achieved through diverse and resilient ecosystems. We are not risking a food crisis with, but without a drastic reduction in pesticides in Europe."
Pesticides are used against insects or other animals, fungi or weeds, for example.
