Agriculture Uses One Fifth Less Crop Protection Products
Statistics Netherlands | CBS
Source published: 13 November 25
Agriculture Uses One Fifth Less Crop Protection Products
In 2024, agriculture used 22 percent less crop protection products than in 2020, indicating a significant reduction in pesticide use.
In 2024, agriculture used 3.9 million kilograms of crop protection products, 22 percent less than in 2020. Per hectare, agriculture used 5.6 kilograms, compared to 7.1 kilograms four years earlier. Fewer products are used to combat fungi, weeds, or insects. In lily cultivation, the use of protection products more than halved. This is shown by new figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on crop protection product use for 44 agricultural crops.
Agriculture uses crop protection products to prevent or combat harmful diseases, pests, or weeds. Farmers use these products on nearly 98 percent of the agricultural area of the 44 crops in this study. This has hardly changed since 2020. There are products based on chemical active substances, and based on microbiologically active substances (viruses, bacteria). Additionally, some of the products used (for example, paraffin oil) fall under green crop protection. In 2024, 26 percent of the crop protection products used were green crop protection.
CBS surveys agricultural companies every four years about how much products they use per crop. The weather during cultivation plays a major role in usage; 2024 was a very wet year, while 2020 was rather dry. Both years were above average in temperature.
Quarter less products against fungi and bacteria
In 2024, growers of crops (arable farmers and horticulturists) used nearly 1.7 million kilograms of crop protection products (expressed in active substance) to combat fungi and bacteria. That is 24 percent less than in 2020, partly due to the ban on mancozeb (from 2021). With 42 percent of the total, this remains the most used group of crop protection products.
For weed control and defoliation, agriculture uses 1.1 million kilograms of active substance, 15 percent less than in 2020. Growers use 34 percent less products to combat insects and mites.
Agriculture uses more than half again as many other products, for example to combat slugs, for sprout inhibition, or for plant growth regulation. This group also includes some products allowed in organic farming.
Insects and mites
Weeds and defoliation
Other products
x mln kg active substance
*preliminary figures
Pesticide use in lily cultivation more than halved
In 2024, agriculture, as in 2020, used more than half of the crop protection products in the cultivation of potatoes and lilies. For lily cultivation, bulb growers used 273 thousand kilograms of products, in 2020 that was 601 thousand kilograms. Lily growers used 220 thousand kilograms less paraffin oil. The fungicide mancozeb is now banned; in 2020, lily cultivation still used 114 thousand kilograms of it. As a result, the use of products for fungus control in lilies is 72 percent lower than in 2020.
Arable farmers use 23 percent more products to grow consumption potatoes. 2024 was a wet year, with a higher chance of potato disease. Therefore, more products against fungi and bacteria were used: 445 thousand kilograms, compared to 320 thousand kilograms four years earlier.
For more than half of the agricultural crops studied in both years, less crop protection products were used in 2024 than in 2020.
2020
x 1,000 kg active substance
*preliminary figures
Highest use per hectare with roses under glass
Growers use the most crop protection products per hectare in the cultivation of roses under glass (75 kilograms). In 2020, this was still 40 kilograms per hectare. More green pesticides are used against insects than four years ago. After roses, the most pesticides per hectare are used in chrysanthemums under glass and then in lilies. Higher use per hectare under glass is partly due to the use of microbiological, green products. In lilies, the use per hectare of mainly paraffin oil decreases sharply.
Besides for the cultivation of flowers and bulbs, farmers dose relatively large amounts of crop protection products for the cultivation of seed potatoes, apples, and pears (between 20 and 30 kilograms of active substance per hectare). In onion cultivation, use per hectare more than halves.
2020
x 1,000 kg active substance
*preliminary figures.
¹⁾ Total use divided by total hectares with crop protection products (dosage).
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