Author: David Max MA DPhil (2021-10-06)
Agrochemical usage in EU countries
- Invertebrate declines
- Sources of data: Antier et al. 2020
- Insecticides, acaricides
- Herbicides, haulm destructors, etc. usage
- Insecticides, acaricides
- Overall agrochemical usage
- Some comments on agricultural systems, agrochemical usage, and biodiversity changes
- References
Invertebrate declines
Studies have shown very serious declines in insect abundance in recent years [e.g. 1].
The meta-analysis of Pilotto et al (2020) of biodiversity in Europe showed a decline in terrestrial invertebrates [2].
The causes of these declines is a topic of active research, but among factors that may be relevant are widespread agrochemical usage.
Sources of data: Antier et al. 2020
Usage of agrochemicals in European Union countries has been summarised in detail by Antier et al. (2020) [3].
In their paper, Antier et al. mainly focus on usage of the herbicide glyphosate, but they also give a summary for other agrochemicals.
The geographical patterns of usage are interesting and shown in the interactive maps presented below.
(The maps were created using various R packages.)
Herbicides, haulm destructors, etc. usage
In Table A1 of Antier et al, the herbicides column includes haulm destructors, used in, for example, potato cultivation at the end of the crop.
Herbicide usage is highest in Belgium and Netherlands, and generally also high in France, Germany and Poland.
Insecticides, acaricides
Germany and Cyprus stand out as high users of insecticides and acaricides (the latter are used to kill mites).
Interestingly, Germany was the location for the long-term study of changes in insect biomass that showed declines of approximately 75% over 27 years [1].
Overall agrochemical usage
Two Mediterranean countries, Cyprus and Malta, are high overall users of agrochemicals. Both are heavy users of fungicides and bactericides, and Cyprus uses large amounts of insecticides and acaricides.
Some comments on agricultural systems, agrochemical usage, and biodiversity changes
The overall agrochemical usage map does not obviously match the classification of EU agricultural systems presented by Fanelli [4].
The Fanelli analysis classifies France, Belgium, Poland, and nine other countries as “Intensive Agricultural System”. The main feature of these systems was a high dependence on cattle (bovines), and thus high water usage and ammonia emissions.
One of the countries in the “Intensive Agricultural System” group is Ireland, which comes out lowest in terms of overall agrochemical usage.
Fanelli identified a group of seven countries (Germany, Greece, Estonia, UK, Italy, Sweden, Finland) as “Ecosustainable Agricultural System”.
Fanelli also identified two smaller groups of countries that operate more sustainable agricultural systems.
Agrochemical usage in each category is shown relative to the EU28+3 overall usage in the table below.
In the table, countries are ordered by overall usage [kg(a.i.)/ha], highest first. The background colours in the country column are roughly those used by Fanelli in her Figure 3.
| country | fungicides, bactericides | herbicides, haulm destructors, etc | insecticides, acaricides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyprus | 7.83 | 1.74 | 4.57 |
| Malta | 9.78 | 0.31 | 1.14 |
| Netherlands | 3.02 | 2.44 | 0.71 |
| Belgium | 2.22 | 2.73 | 1.86 |
| Italy | 3.32 | 0.95 | 1.05 |
| Germany | 0.95 | 1.56 | 4.00 |
| Spain | 1.94 | 1.08 | 1.29 |
| Slovenia | 2.02 | 0.79 | 0.48 |
| France | 1.21 | 1.60 | 0.57 |
| Austria | 1.09 | 0.92 | 2.48 |
| Finland | 1.78 | 0.73 | 0.05 |
| Portugal | 1.38 | 0.82 | 1.19 |
| Hungary | 0.90 | 1.21 | 0.71 |
| Poland | 0.56 | 1.42 | 0.57 |
| Czech Republic | 0.68 | 1.23 | 0.24 |
| Luxembourg | 0.80 | 0.71 | 0.76 |
| Switzerland | 0.80 | 0.63 | 0.76 |
| Denmark | 0.22 | 1.50 | 0.10 |
| Turkey | 0.64 | 0.45 | 1.38 |
| Slovakia | 0.44 | 0.94 | 0.33 |
| Croatia | 0.58 | 0.69 | 0.33 |
| UK | 0.36 | 0.82 | 0.10 |
| Greece | 0.40 | 0.52 | 0.81 |
| Romania | 0.40 | 0.61 | 0.29 |
| Sweden | 0.12 | 1.03 | 0.05 |
| Estonia | 0.16 | 0.84 | 0.14 |
| Lithuania | 0.28 | 0.68 | 0.10 |
| Bulgaria | 0.30 | 0.50 | 0.33 |
| Latvia | 0.17 | 0.69 | 0.10 |
| Norway | 0.11 | 0.73 | 0.00 |
| Ireland | 0.16 | 0.60 | 0.05 |
| EU28+3 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
Declines in invertebrate biodiversity were observed in the meta-analysis study of Pilotto (2020)[2].
The Pilotto study does not detect declines in bird abundance in the large-scale biogeographical regions they considered.
This is despite dramatic declines in the populations of various passerines in the UK since the Second World War (spotted flycatcher, chats, shrikes etc.). Perhaps these declines instead appear as species turnover.