News » 25.08.2025 - NL: Wake-up call over crop protection and growing list of bottlenecks

 

There are currently 39 bottlenecks listed (link in Dutch) in a national overview of challenges related to crop protection. This list is updated every year in cooperation with industry organizations and shared with the Ministry of Agriculture. The steadily growing number of issues is causing increasing concern within the sector.

According to Dorus Rijkers of Bayer, who recently shared his thoughts on LinkedIn (link in Dutch): "The list gets longer every year. And more and more of these bottlenecks can no longer be adequately addressed with the current crop protection measures."

He also observes that retail chains are using "greening" as a marketing tool, without fully understanding what this means for the future of crop production in the Netherlands and for overall food security.

Rijkers stresses he does not want to sound only negative: "We want to stay positive together with the sector. It's important to keep Dutch-produced food accessible for all income groups. Our growers are already producing much more sustainably and with fewer inputs than many of their colleagues in, for example, South America. And we're working across the entire supply chain in a transparent way… let's make sure we preserve that."

Source: www.floraldaily.com

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