Reduced Pesticide Use in Scandinavian Agriculture

Abstract

Abstract In all industrialized countries, the use of individual pesticides has been regulated on the basis of the presumed hazard that each poses to health and the environment. In Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, programs aimed at reducing total pesticide use have been initiated as well. In Swedish and Danish agriculture, the amount of active ingredients used has decreased steadily since around 1980; however, the area treated has increased during the same period. The reduction during the 1980s can be ascribed to several factors affecting pesticide use in agriculture. First, old pesticides have been replaced by new ones that are active at lower doses. A general decrease in herbicide doses applied has been possible because of decreased weed pressure. Improved spraying technique also is important. Environmental concern and political ambitions to reduce pesticide use in Scandinavian agriculture must be understood primarily within the historical framework of societal values and political and social experiences. The success in the reduction of pesticide use, however, cannot be measured and evaluated without taking into account the specific technical and agroecological prerequisites existing in Scandinavian agriculture. As in many other areas of complex changes in modern society: Opinion proposes, Technology disposes.