Today (Tuesday 27th February) DEFRA launched a consultation entitled 'Health and Harmony - The future of farming, food and the environment in a green Brexit'. The government has labelled the ten-week consultation period a once-in-a-generation opportunity for farmers, landowners and food producers to shape the future of English farming and the environment. [...]
In January 2018, the UK government launched A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment (hereafter referred to as ‘the Plan’). The Plan lays out a range of goals and policies designed to ‘help the natural world regain and retain health’ and restates the government’s commitment [...]
11th January 2018 PAN UK welcomes the government's 25 Year Environment Plan and in particular the commitment to support farmers working hard to protect the environment. However, in terms of pesticides, the plan launched today is unfortunately light on detail and includes no new, concrete commitments. While PAN UK welcomes [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy and Campaigns (January 2018) In November 2017, EU member States narrowly voted for a five-year reauthorisation of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weedkiller. While this is far from the fifteen-year license the agrochemical industry was pushing for, the result was a major disappointment [...]
Project success as 200 Ethiopian farmers become the first to produce certified organic cotton in the country Since 2013, with financial support from TRAID and in collaboration with PAN-Ethiopia, our project in southern Ethiopia has provided training for over 2000 smallholder cotton farmers. Training in our Farmer Field Schools demonstrates [...]
In December 2013, the European Commission restricted the use of three highly bee-toxic neonicotinoid insecticides, namely imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. On the 4th anniversary of the partial ban on these substances, new scientific knowledge confirms that these restrictions do not go far enough. Therefore, more than 80 EU NGOs are gathering [...]
Update - 27th November - Glyphosate license renewed for a further five years PAN UK is disappointed to report that the controversial weed killer, glyphosate, has been given approval for use in the EU for a further five years. What is even more disappointing is that the new approval comes [...]
A review of pesticide use in global cotton production - 10th October 2017 (PLEASE FIND OUR REVISED ISSUE FOR JUNE 2018 HERE) A new report published today by PAN UK, with support from the C&A Foundation, investigates the current rate of pesticide use in cotton, and examines its trends [...]
by Sam Claydon, Communications Officer, PAN UK (19th September 2017) PAN UK is working with partners and colleagues in Ethiopia to teach smallholder cotton farmers how to manage their fields using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods in order to move away from an over-reliance on pesticides. In a lucky turn [...]
by Professor Dave Goulson, Sussex University Take a walk around your local garden centre and you will see a mouth-watering range of gorgeous plants on display. You might note that some are specifically labelled as pollinator or bee-friendly, with a picture of a cartoon bumblebee on the label. The Royal [...]
by Nick Mole, Policy Officer, PAN UK It's National Gardening Week, a time for people to get out in their gardens, enjoy the spring weather and get those ornamental beds looking good in time for summer. But, there are some things that have no place in a garden. You're probably [...]
Today’s opinion from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) – that glyphosate does not present an unacceptable risk to human health – is not only a huge disappointment, but also a complete abandonment of the precautionary principle. It puts the health and wellbeing of millions of EU citizens at risk. It [...]
The spring is fast approaching and bees are starting to come out of hibernation, we saw our first this week, and they will be desperate for food. Dandelions are a great source of food for them and they are hugely abundant everywhere, in towns and cities, the countryside, parks, [...]
PAN UK and IEEP have published a new report examining the effectiveness of the UK’s approach to managing pesticide risks and reviewing innovative policy measures used by other countries. The report finds that, between 2000 and 2013, the overall crop area being treated with herbicides, insecticides and fungicides and the [...]
Brexit has major implications for UK agriculture. PAN UK is calling on the government to take this opportunity to create a new agricultural system that works for farmers and the environment by replacing the flawed common agricultural policy with a new system that rewards farmers for looking after our environment; [...]
