Here are some articles on pesticides and related topics from the last two weeks:

• “Agriculture seen as ‘key’ to fighting climate change” (EurActiv)
• Mercabilbao in Spain starts a pioneer process of cleaning and desensitizing the boxes used to carry fruit and vegetables. “Mercabilbao pone en marcha un tren de lavado pionero en el Estado para envases reutilizables de frutas y hortalizas” (In spanish – Europapress)
• “Italian police seize counterfeit pesticides” (Fruinet)
• “Debate over quality of Italian fresh produce” (International Supermarket News)
• “Agriculture: A necessary complication in the climate negotiation” (Grist)

At the event we recently attended in southern Spain (see entries below), we asked two journalists, one from the trade press publication, Editorial Agricola Española, and the other from the press agency, EFE, how the issue of the revision of the European pesticides regulation, Directive 91/414, was being dealt with by the Spanish press.

Following our visit to the Efyasa farm in Spain, we spoke to chief agronomist José Luis Ripolles. He mentioned the quality issue arising from attacks by the California Red Scale pest; the limited use of pesticides in citrus fruit farming in Spain; and the fact that the five year exemption on irreplaceable pesticides being touted by the EU will not actually help him. View the highlights in the video below.

We attended an event in Isla Cristina in southern Spain earlier this month at the Efyasa orange farm, which operates on the principle of Integrated Pest Management, an approach that uses a complimentary array of methods to control pests in an attempt to reduce reliance on pesticides.

In this debate, focus has tended to be on yields, but in the video clip below, the chief agronomist at Efyasa, José Luis Ripolles, and his colleague Rafael Fernandez, largely speak about fruit quality. They are in the awkward predicament of having been able to grow oranges containing limited to zero residues, but then not being able to sell them because quality has been compromised by attacks from the California Red Scale pest, which leaves unsightly stains on the surface of the oranges. Quite a Catch-22 situation, considering that customers expect fewer residues AND stainless, perfect-looking fruit: it appears that it has to be, certainly in this case, one or the other.