By Dr. Andrea Beste
The transition to pesticide-free agriculture is central to a sustainable land and food policy that fulfils the EU’s Farm-to-Fork strategy and can secure sufficient harvests in the long term in view of population growth and climate change. At the same time, it represents an enormous challenge for farmers, who need to completely re-evaluate their production and application practices. This requires a fundamental rethink in European agricultural and chemicals policy. The concept of One Health makes it clear that individual human health should not be considered in isolation, but is closely linked to the health of plants, animals, fellow human beings and the environment.