Book reviews and resources

EU market analysis
Agrow’s Complete Guide to Agrochemical Marketing Strategies in the EU discusses the critical issues that may impact on both the size and nature of the market. The report provides detailed overviews of the 15 EU countries.
    In 1998 the breakdown of world agrochemical markets by region was – North America 29%, Western Europe 25%, Far East 21%, Latin America 14%, and the Rest of the World 11%. 

    France continues to have the largest share of the market in Europe, with about one-third of all product sales. The top five markets – France, Germany, Italy, UK and Spain – account for over 80% of EU sales. Herbicides represent the biggest sector, followed by fungicides, and in particular fungicides in cereals.
    The report also examines the possible effects of organic farming and genetically modified crops on traditional agrochemical markets. By the end of 1997 the total organic land area in the EU had grown to two million hectares on 81,000 farms (3% of agricultural land use). This will potentially impact on agrochemical usage throughout the EU. 
    Controversy over the introduction of genetically modified crops (GMCs) receives much attention in the report. In the EU there continues to be no clear picture regarding their commercial introduction. In fact during 1999 EU Member States imposed a de facto moratorium on GMC approvals. There were many calls for a moratorium on commercial plantings of GMCs from environmental and consumer groups, destruction of field trials continued, and scientists released unclear and contradictory research findings.
    The UK announced that no GMCs would be grown commercially until 2002. France and Austria maintained their anti-GM stance. Plans by major companies – including Novartis, AgrEvo, Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred – to carry out field trials of GM maize in Austria were abandoned through public and political pressure and a lack of support from the local authorities. Last year Denmark banned all commercial plantings and sale of GM seed. In Spain the government rejected calls for a moratorium on the growing of GMCs and carried out hundreds of field trials, mostly on maize.
    Ultimately, the report concludes, the success of transgenic crops will depend on the acceptance of the technology by farmers and food processors – not to mention the willingness of consumers to buy the foods and other products derived from them. The receptivity of consumers will, in turn, greatly influence the policy of retailers.

Martin Redbond, Agrow’s Complete Guide to Agrochemical Marketing Strategies in the EU, PJB Publications, 18/20 Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6UA, UK, Fax +44 020 8322 8992, 2000, 153pp. Agrow offers its reports at half price to non-profit organisations, www.agrowreports.com

New York’s toxic treadmill
The pressure group Environmental Advocates has published a well-researched and informative report detailing pesticide use in New York State and relevant legislation produced as part of the New York State Pesticide Right-to-Know and Reduction Project. Non-agricultural pesticide use in urban and suburban areas of the state outweighs agricultural pesticide use. The report stresses that agricultural pesticides should not be viewed as less of a threat in terms of public health and environmental safety, as many agricultural pesticides reported are extremely acutely toxic and pose significant water contamination hazards.
    During 1998 pesticide use by commercial applicators and sales to farmers was reported as 4.5 million gallons (17 million litres) and 29.4 million pounds (13 million kg). The figures for 1997 are less, being 3.5 million gallons (13 million litres) and 25.3 million pounds (11 million kg), but this is attributed to less stringent reporting rather than actual usage. A substantial percentage of the total pesticides used are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as known or suspected carcinogens, suspected endocrine disrupters or highly neurotoxic. Chlorpyrifos, banned in August 2000 for virtually all non-agricultural uses, was reported as the highest active ingredient used by the gallon and the second highest by weight (pounds).
    The report recommends that the state adopts an institutional commitment to promote the use of safer pest control and alternatives to pesticide use. Funding should be made available for research, training and loan support. All pesticide applicators should be trained in non-toxic alternative pest management as a condition of their licences. 
    Further recommendations to adopt the polluter pays principle and to give local government the authority to impose more stringent regulations to pesticide use than is currently required by state and federal laws. 
    Comprehensive data relating to non-agricultural pesticide use with the UK is currently not available and this report highlights the need for greater knowledge of pesticide use within urban and suburban areas.
Environmental Advocates & the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, Inc., The Toxic Treadmill, pesticide use and sales in new York State, 1997-1998, Environmental Advocates, 353 Hamilton street, Albany, New York 12210, Tel: 518.462.5526,  Email, October 2000, 44pp.

Alternatives to methyl bromide
Methyl bromide is a toxic chemical used to control a wide range of pests in soil, food commodities and buildings. In the early 1990s, scientists identified methyl bromide as one of the substances contributing to ozone depletion. In response, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was agreed in 1997 as a global phase-out schedule. Achieving this phase-out is one of the last remaining challenges for the protection of the ozone layer.
    Methyl bromide phase-out will require a shift towards more environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. Such behavioural changes will come about through sustained awareness-raising, training and capacity-building activities to provide farmers with the knowledge and tools needed to adopt alternatives successfully. It will only occur if farmers and policymakers have practical examples of successful alternatives to methyl bromide.
    The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Case Studies on Alternatives to Methyl Bromide comprises 18 cases studies that illustrate non-chemical alternative techniques used for the major crops and commodities. Based on data collected by more than 30 experts from around the world, each case study contains information on the alternative techniques, comparison of yields and performance, comparison of costs, acceptability to regulators and consumers, and applicability to other regions and uses.
    The case studies demonstrate that non-chemical alternatives are not only cost effective but are also safer for farm workers, local communities and the environment. They show that export producers using these techniques can compete in the international market place, where consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about pesticide use.
    According to Klaus Töpfer, the Executive Director of UNEP, the report will help National Ozone Units in developing countries successfully meet the methyl bromide control measure required by the Montreal Protocol – the 2002 freeze on methyl bromide consumption and production. Farmers, extension agencies, researchers and other stakeholders can also use these case studies to identify and adopt alternatives to methyl bromide that will maintain agricultural productivity while protecting the global environment.
Case studies on alternatives to methyl bromide: technologies with low environmental impact, UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, OzonAction Programme, 39-43 quai André Citroën, 75739 Paris, France, Fax 33 1 4437 1474, ozonaction@unep.fr, 77pp.

Integrated farming can reduce inputs
The government and industry funded LINK Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) project began in April 1992 as part of the Technologies for Sustainable Farming Systems. The project was established on six farms situated in the main arable farming areas in the UK: Hampshire (Manydown), Cambridgeshire (Boxworth and Sacrewell), Herefordshire (Lower Hope), Yorkshire (High Mowthorpe) and Midlothian (Pathhead). IFS was compared with local conventional practice on split plots, occupying approximately 50 hectares per site. The main practices adopted included: targeted and selective pesticide use; balanced nutrient inputs; resistant varieties; rotational weed control; crop diversity; and flexible cultivations.
    Pesticide use was substantially reduced across most crops (30% less cost and 18% less active ingredient) on IFS, with no measurable increases in pest, disease or weed problems. Also the IFS rotation used 20% less nitrogen overall than the conventional. Although yields were generally lower on the IFS, variable and production costs were also reduced, giving an overall lower cost of production per tonne from the IFS. There was some variation between sites, but IFS was as economically viable as the conventional system overall. 
    Researchers found no direct evidence of differences in numbers and species diversity of invertebrates between the two systems. Cropping and filed margins are important factors influencing numbers and species. 
LINK Integrated Farming Systems (a field-scale comparison of arable rotations), Project Report No. 173, Home Grown Cereals Authority, Email, 2000, 153pp.

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Way forward for genetic resources
Volume 1 of Seeding Solutions brings readers up to date on what has changed, scientifically, politically and environmentally, since the publication in 1994 of People, Plants and Patents, which summarised the major issues related to the ownership, conservation and exchange of plant germplasm. This volume offers policymakers a clear description of the facts relevant to genetic resources.
    The first section provides a context for understanding the intellectual property (IP) and biodiversity debate, showing the links to the social, economic and environmental factors.
    The second section deals with changes in molecular bioscience. Scientific and technical breakthroughs at the molecular level are not only changing the practice or interpretation of science: they often have profound implications for society.
    The volume concludes that, over the last five years, the international community has seen major conventions and legal agreements enter into force that relate to conservation and use of biological diversity and IP are now being discussed. 
Seeding Solutions, Volume 1. Policy options for genetic resources: People, Plants and Patents revisited, International Development Research Centre, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, and the Dag Hammerskjöld Foundation, copies available from: cgiar.org/ipgri, 2000, 121pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

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The 2000 BCPC Conference
The three volumes and 1300 pages of the proceedings of the annual British Crop Protection Council Conference at Brighton contain nearly 200 posters and papers. Increasingly these consider alternatives to pesticides and pesticides in a wider context. 
    This year one of the sessions considered pest and disease management in organic production systems with a plea from organic consultant Christopher Stopes to rationalize organic pest control products across Europe – and develop new ones – and a reminder from the Scottish Agricultural Colleges that organic research needs are completely different from other agricultural production systems. 
    There was also a session on Integrated Crop Management in Cotton, which at least contemplated the possibility of non-chemical control in one of the world’s major crops. Food retailers, exert more influence on farmers than governments, also report how residue and risk legislation has caused them to pay more attention to the way food is produced. 
    As always, new synthetic pesticide molecules are announced. One group of fungicides, the strobilurin group, was announced and first marketed in 1996. Azoxystrobilurin is now a world market leader in cereals: but a number of papers deal with the issue of emerging resistance to strobilurin fungicides. Certain wheat fungi developed resistance in Germany in 1998 which spread throughout Europe in 1999. In Japan resistance is widespread in cucumber fungi. Cross-resistance is also reported with two other non-strobilurin fungicides.
    Another paper asks the question whether fungicides are the sole answer in cereal disease control, noting that the percentage of crop treated and the number of applications has increased greatly since the 1970s. Yields have nearly doubled from 4.3 t/ha to 8.1 t/ha, but that has been due to improvements in cultivars and nutrition. But organic winter wheats in a stockless rotation have also notched up 7.2 t/ha. The point is made that a more sustainable system of cereal production, particularly in a climate of falling grain prices, may be a better alternative than a complete reliance on fungicides.
    How then are farmers to be stimulated and encouraged to do this? Again for the first time are thoughtful papers on technology transfer that recognize research has to be useful to farmers, and easy to incorporate into their practice. Joyce Tait offers the view that the US Food Quality Protection Act has had two interesting impacts: it has provided a ‘fast-track’ for pesticide products that can legitimately claim health or environmental benefits over existing products. And it has changed the basis of competition among companies, moving from individual safety assessment to comparative risk analysis, leading to ‘greener’ products.
Pests and Diseases 2000, Proceedings of an international conference held at the Brighton Hilton Metropole Hotel, UK 13-16 November 2000, British Crop Protection Council, Farnham, Surrey, UK.

Latest pesticide reference
The 12th edition of the world compendium of pesticides, The Pesticides Manual, includes profiles of 812 pesticides. Since the publication of the previous edition three years ago, entries for more than 40 new synthetic molecules have been added. For the first time the manual includes, the new classification codes from the World Health Organisation drinking water guidelines, and carcinogenicity classes allocated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The Pesticide Manual, British Crop Protection Council, Bear Farm, Binfield, Bracknell, Berks, RG42 5QE, UK, Fax +44 (0)118 934 1998, 1,250pp.

[These reviews first appeared in Pesticides News No.50, December 2000, p22-23]