The future of crop protection in Europe - Appendix 2 - Societal Assessment

One way of avoiding societal rejection of crop protection practices is to design them in line with stakeholders’ priorities and preferences. This report describes the involvement in crop protection and the opinions regarding the use of plant protection products (PPPs) for the following stakeholder groups: (1) the stakeholders who primarily look at crop protection from a consumption perspective (i.e. consumers, retailers and the food industry), (2) the stakeholders who look at crop protection from a production perspective (i.e. farmers and growers), (3) the stakeholders who look at crop protection from a supply chain perspective (i.e. crop protection industry, plant breeders and other suppliers), and (4) the stakeholders who look at crop protection from a societal perspective (i.e. citizens and NGOs). Four explorative scenarios were developed that look at ways in which existing and emerging crop protection practices might be combined to ensure plant pests and diseases are effectively controlled. These scenarios were discussed in a brainstorming meeting with relevant stakeholders. For each scenario, the potential implications of the crop protection practices for different stakeholder groups (farmers, consumers, industry, NGOs) as well as the identification of their hopes and fears (i.e. potential positive as well as negative knock-on effects) were identified.