Paris, Monday 30 October 2030 – On Monday 30 October, the French government announced a new plan for the management of pesticides up to 2030, known as the “Ecophyto 2030” plan. Launched in 2009 following the Grenelle Environment Forum, the first Ecophyto plan evolved into Ecophyto II in 2016, when the targets set were not met, and then into Ecophyto II+ in 2018. Subject to consultation with stakeholders, the new plan, which is a guideline document for government policy on pesticides, should be finalised and published in early 2024.

The new national plan is built around a primary objective: to halve the use of pesticides by 2030 compared with the period 2015-2017. The State is allocating the Ministry of Agriculture a total budget of €250 million for ecological planning, as well as an additional envelope to be determined by the Prime Minister. According to the press release outlining the main lines of the Ecophyto 2030 plan, government action on pesticides must meet three imperatives: protect crops, support agricultural performance and protect public health and the environment.

To achieve this, the government is proposing to focus its efforts on increasing research into and development of alternatives to certain active substances, as part of an agro-ecological transition. It is also worth noting that the “Nodu” indicator, used to measure the quantity of plant protection products actually used at national level, has been retained. This differs from the “Quantity of Active Substance” or QAS indicator used at European level.

We have to wonder whether the government will respect the implementation of this new plan this time. In June 2023, the Paris Administrative Court found shortcomings in the government’s efforts to implement the previous Ecophyto plans. It recognised that the State was at fault in the process of evaluating pesticide products, considering that the government had not taken all the necessary measures to effectively protect groundwater and reduce the use of plant protection products. Similarly, in a report sent to the Prime Minister in 2020, the Court of Auditors condemned the shortcomings of government action to implement the Ecophyto plans, despite the €400 million mobilised in 2018.

The ambition of this new plan will nevertheless be limited by the upstream determination of the rules applicable at European level. Indeed, as Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne stated during her visit to the 2023 edition of the Salon de l’Agriculture, “when it comes to plant protection products, from now on we will respect the European framework and nothing but the European framework”. The important decisions to come at European level, such as the potential renewal of the authorisation for glyphosate, but also the political colour of the European Parliament after the 2024 elections, will therefore be decisive.

Sources :

Planification écologique : le Gouvernement lance la consultation des parties prenantes sur la nouvelle stratégie écophyto 2030 | Ministères Écologie Énergie Territoires (ecologie.gouv.fr) 

Plan Écophyto, réduire et améliorer l’utilisation des produits phytosanitaires, Office français de la Biodiversité

Pesticides : la France veut réduire leur usage de moitié à l’horizon 2030 – Capital.fr

La France réaffirme son ambition de réduire de moitié l’utilisation de pesticides | Les Echos

Elisabeth Borne veut trouver des substituts aux pesticides, sans affecter les agriculteurs français (lemonde.fr)