Original research from a 2021 comparative study reveals stark regional divides — and challenges a one-size-fits-all reduction policy. Thesis From This article is based on an undergraduate thesis (Bardakis, 2021) completed at the University of Patras, which constructed a harmonised Fungicide Use Index (FungI) for all EU-27 member states.
Introduction
The European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy sets an ambitious target: reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030. It’s a headline goal that signals environmental commitment. But behind the target lies an uncomfortable question: 50% of what?
Member states do not start from the same baseline. Some rely heavily on plant protection products due to climate, crop types, and farm structures. Others already use comparatively little. Without a clear, comparable picture of current use, policymakers risk designing blunt instruments that penalise certain regions while asking too little of others.
This was the motivation behind a 2021 undergraduate thesis at the University of Patras, Department of Agricultural Business and Food Management. The research set out to build a harmonised Fungicide Use Index (FungI) — measured in kilogrammes of active ingredient per hectare of agricultural land — for all 27 EU member states. Drawing on almost two decades of data (2000–2018) from FAOSTAT and Eurostat, the study created a comparative baseline that allows countries to be ranked, grouped, and examined not just on total fungicide sales, but on actual application intensity relative to their agricultural footprint.
What the research found challenges the simple North–South stereotypes.
The study classified EU-27 countries into nine distinct subgroups, from “minimal” to “very high” fungicide use. Contrary to common assumptions, many Southern European member states registered high FungI values, while several Northern countries recorded lower intensity. This pattern, however, is not uniform — and the picture becomes more complex when the analysis distinguishes between inorganic fungicides (such as copper and sulphur, widely used in organic and Mediterranean agriculture) and organic (synthetic) fungicides.
The data suggest that Southern Europe leans more heavily on inorganic compounds, while Northern member states tend toward higher use of synthetic organic fungicides. These divergent profiles have significant implications for how a continent-wide reduction policy should be designed — and whether a uniform target can ever be equitable.
In this article, we present the FungI data, visualise the country groupings, and explore the policy tensions that arise when Europe attempts to legislate agricultural practice across vastly different climates, crop systems, and farming traditions.
To construct the Fungicide Use Index (FungI), the following data were used for each EU-27 member state:
- Fungicides use (kg): Annual sales of fungicide active ingredients, in kilogrammes (kg a.i.), sourced from FAOSTAT.
- Agricultural land area (ha): Total agricultural land, in hectares (ha), sourced from Eurostat and FAOSTAT.
The index was calculated using this simple ratio:FungI=Agricultural land area (ha)Fungicides use (kg)(kg ha−1)
This produces a harmonised, comparable indicator of fungicide application intensity across countries, independent of farm size or total crop area. The analysis covered the years 2000–2018 to capture both cross-sectional differences and trends over time.
More:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10dgsonHjOfDpSnczPSneDw1C0A2HmViD?usp=drive_link