Report from the Sub-comittee on the environment and health

Conclusions concerning
improvement in spraying
methods
Conclusions concerning
health and safety
O<strong>the</strong>r conclusions
Conclusion concerning
mycotoxins
Conclusion concerning
changes in energy
consumption
Conclusion concerning
emissions of greenhouse
gases
• There is a good possibility of reducing spray drift of pesticides by
using new nozzles that minimise <strong>the</strong> proportion of droplets with a
potential for drift. Some of <strong>the</strong> new types increase <strong>the</strong> spraying
capacity in relation to earlier sprayers, which at <strong>the</strong> same time
increases <strong>the</strong> possibility of getting a crop sprayed quickly in calm
wea<strong>the</strong>r. However, <strong>the</strong> new types of nozzles do not result in any
significant reduction of <strong>the</strong> amount of pesticide used.
• New spraying methods are being developed that enable positional
dosing of pesticides – with <strong>the</strong> treatment limited to those areas of <strong>the</strong>
field that need spraying. With <strong>the</strong> present spraying practice, more than
95% of <strong>the</strong> spray product may hit <strong>the</strong> soil surface in <strong>the</strong> early growth
stages of <strong>the</strong> plants.
• Within fruit growing, a new, screened technique that collects spray
residues offers good possibilities of reducing <strong>the</strong> impacts on <strong>the</strong>
surrounding environment.
• The use of microbiological products involves a risk of health
problems in <strong>the</strong> form of allergies and bronchial diseases.
• Improvement of <strong>the</strong> physical design of sites for filling and washing of
sprayers and <strong>the</strong> use of biobeds and clean water tanks would reduce
point source pollution.
• Reducing or eliminating soil treatment could result in increased
transport of pesticides in macropores and thus increased leaching of
pesticides. An improvement with respect to leaching could thus be
achieved by not reducing soil treatment, although this would result in
increased energy consumption. Compared with normal soil treatment,
reduced treatment may cause increased evaporation of pesticides.
Mycotoxins are a general problem in both conventional and organic
farming because <strong>the</strong>y can develop in moist conditions. They can also
develop if grain dries too slowly. The sub-committee finds that
mycotoxins <strong>from</strong> fungi in cereals present a greater risk to public health
than pesticide residues in cereals and <strong>the</strong>refore recommends closer
control of <strong>the</strong> content of mycotoxins in food products.
In <strong>the</strong> event of restructuring for pesticide-free agriculture, <strong>the</strong> direct
energy cost for mechanical weed control would rise, but would be offset
to some extent by a saved, indirect energy cost for production of
pesticides. The sub-committee concludes that <strong>the</strong> total energy
consumption for agricultural purposes in Denmark would not change
much in <strong>the</strong> event of restructuring for pesticide-free production, but that
this must be seen in relation to <strong>the</strong> considerable fall in yield of around
25%. The sub-committee has not considered <strong>the</strong> extent to which a
changed production pattern, e.g. reduced livestock production, would
reduce energy consumption.
The agricultural sector’s domestic contribution to <strong>the</strong> greenhouse effect
is approx. 13 Tg CO2-equivalents. CO2 <strong>from</strong> fossil fuel consumption
accounts for around one quarter of this, and methane and nitrous oxide
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