EU plans to significantly reduce the use of crop sprays will have "major implications" for Irish farming, scientists and tillage experts have warned.
Prof Jimmy Burke, head of Teagasc's crop research centre, said that the proposals could "seriously erode" the competitiveness of Irish tillage farming.
The plans, which will be voted on by the European Parliament this autumn, include a 25 per cent reduction in the use of plant-protection products within five years and a 50 per cent reduction within 10 years.
They also include a ban on spraying within 10 metres of watercourses and a ban on the use of weed-control products in public areas such as roads and paths.
"The proposals are not warranted, based on the scientific information available to the EU Commission and the European Parliament," Prof Burke said. "What we need is an acceptable balance between technical efficiency, food cost, food quality and protection of the environment."
He said it was ironic that while proposals to dramatically restrict the use of plant-protection products were being discussed by the European Parliament, GM varieties, which could reduce the need for routine spraying, were being "regulated out of existence".
Dr Tom McCabe, of UCD's agriculture and food science centre, said that Ireland was uniquely vulnerable to wet weather fungal diseases such as potato blight and septoria in cereals.
The scientists were speaking after a conference organised by the Animal and Plant Health Association and the IFA.
