In 2024, agriculture and horticulture used 3.9 million kg of plant protection products, 22% less than in 2020, which equates to 5.6 kg of active ingredient per hectare, compared to 7.1 kg four years earlier. This is evident from new figures from the CBS. “This significant decline shows that, despite a wet and dark cultivation year, Dutch growers are taking big steps towards more sustainable and resilient cultivation,” responds chairman Adri Bom-Lemstra of Glastuinbouw Nederland.

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The big decline in substance use is remarkable because, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 2024 was a very wet and above average warm year. Bom-Lemstra therefore speaks of a positive development. “Despite a wet and dark year with high disease and pest pressure, growers have managed to become less dependent on chemical plant protection products. Entrepreneurs are thus showing that their efforts to make their crops more sustainable and their crops more resilient are yielding results.”

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Nevertheless, according to Bom-Lemstra, there is still a way to go to further reduce the use of plant protection products. “Through the Implementation Programme for the Future Vision for Crop Protection 2030, we are working on this together with the government. With various business parties, we are also working very hard on greening through accelerator groups.”‍

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Green crop protection‍

According to the new CBS figures 26% of the plant protection products used in 2024 fell into the “green plant protection products” category. This concerns, for example, products based on microbiological active substances. Because these products contain a relatively large amount of active ingredient, the total use of active substance per hectare is higher in some crops, while the use of chemical agents is further declining.‍

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Rose cultivation‍

In greenhouse horticulture, the increasing use of green resources is visible in, for example, rose cultivation under glass. Although growers there used more crop protection products per hectare in 2024 than in 2020, this increase was mainly due to the increasing use of green resources.

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Tom Prince