Pesticides and leaving the EU

We need to find ways for farmers to improve their productivity and competitiveness while also protecting the environment, and I support the Government's efforts to achieve these twin objectives.
 
The UK has a National Action Plan to ensure that plant protection products can be used sustainably, which includes measures on the marketing and use of pesticides, residues in food and the effects of their degradation and disposal. In my view dealing with the risks pesticides pose, and encouraging them to be used responsibly, is the best way to ensure farmers can continue to benefit from them in the future.
 
UK experts participated in the European Food Safety Authority's assessment of glyphosate and support its conclusions, particularly that glyphosate does not cause cancer. The Government therefore supports the continuing approval of glyphosate. If glyphosate is approved, UK authorities will review the authorisations of glyphosate products to ensure that they meet current standards.
 
As part of the preparation for exiting the EU, Ministers are considering future arrangements for pesticides. Their highest priority will continue to be the protection of people and the environment and, taking the advice of the independent Expert Committee on Pesticides, they will base these decisions on a careful scientific assessment of the risks.
 
There is a long-run correlation between farm efficiency and reduced environmental impact; today's pesticides have after all been designed so that as little as possible is needed, and then only as a last resort. Farmers use about a third less chemical volume today than they did 30 years ago, and I believe this is an encouraging trend