In the latest spat over pesticide use in the EU, farmers in Denmark have protested against a new law aimed at reducing diffuse pollution. The new law, which prohibits the use of fertilisers within 10 metres of rivers and lakes has triggered a furious reaction from the Danish farming community.

The Marginal Zone Law will remove an estimated 50,000 hectares of Danish farmland from production, but could reduce water pollution levels by an estimated 9,000 tonnes per year. The law will come into effect next month, but farming groups have expressed plans to flout new regulations, which they claim are illegal.

The farmers argue the law will have a huge impact on the Danish economy and said plans to allow the public access to the ‘Marginal Zones’ is an illegal expropriation of private property, despite announcements by Danish ministers that farmers will be compensated for the change in land use. Danish group Sustainable Agriculture, which campaigns to reduce the environmental obligations placed on farmers, has suggested the new law could reduce production by over 25 per cent.

The Danish Liberal Party are also campaigning about the new law, even though they introduced it when in power. When the Liberals were in government, the buffer zone law a good idea. But it is no more, says the party.

The Act prohibits farmers to cultivate so-called buffer zones around wetlands, but the maps that designate areas are completely hopeless, says Liberal Anni Matthiesen from Grinnell.

However, other farming groups have welcomed the measures, which they say represent a move towards greater sustainability. Free Farmers – Living Land, one such group, has said that farmers have a responsibility to protect the environment and described the new measures as “a modest contribution” on the part of farmers.

A group spokesperson told European sustainable farming coalition ARC202 that alternatives, including more restrictive laws on pesticides licensed for use, or non-compliance with the Marginal Zone Law, risk hurting Danish agriculture more than the new law itself.

The Danish farming minister responded that no farmer would lose more than five per cent of their land to the new regulations and said the rules will be eased in, with local authorities working with farmers to established marginal Zones, and no punishments for farmers found to be flouting the regulations where there is a reasonable doubt.   

In the UK, farming minister Jim Paice recently announced the UK government would abandon attempts to classify the entire country as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone; Defra had been considering the move, which it said would reduce the risk of water pollution from agricultural chemical use throughout the country, but Mr Paice announced the government had dropped its plans as part of a range of concessions to dairy farmers who had threatened direct action following a series of price cuts by major processors.   

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