ECPA launches Sense+Sustainability -- a pan-European campaign promoting the sustainable use of crop protection products

BRUSSELS, 28 JUNE 2006 - The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) today announced the launch of the Sense+Sustainability Campaign, a pan-European campaign promoting the environmental, economic and social viability of the sustainable use of crop protection products.

The campaign targets EU agricultural stakeholders, and places an emphasis on the need for teamwork between farmers and other agricultural stakeholders to foster the sustainable use of crop protection products. Sense+Sustainability also places a strong focus on encouraging sustainable use through farmer training and education, and promotes integrated farming as one of several ways in which sustainable crop protection can be achieved.

"Think about it. It makes sense," said Roger Doig, ECPA President. "When farmers use crop protection products safely and sustainably, they work in tandem with nature to produce what consumers and policy makers increasingly demand: the production of sufficient, safe food with optimum respect for natural ecosystems. The Sense+Sustainability Campaign explains how the crop protection industry, through close collaboration with its partners in the food chain and farmers in the field, is working to make this vision a reality."

The Campaign is supported by the European Landowners Organization (ELO), which represents the interests of landowners, land managers and rural entrepreneurs. "Farmers face a key challenge," said Thierry de l'Escaille, the ELO's Secretary General. "They have to produce safe crops for the food chain, at a fair price, while at the same preserving the biodiversity of their assets in the long term. Sustainable management is clearly the way forward - and the sustainable use of crop protection products is one of the key tools the ELO is promoting for better stewardship of land."

This ties in well with the audience that Sense+Sustainability aims to reach: namely, EU agricultural stakeholders, consisting mainly of policy makers and organisations that represent farming interests and sustainability platforms. "With Sense+Sustainability, ECPA and its national associations are focusing on the pivotal role of collaboration in sustainable agriculture," said Friedhelm Schmider, ECPA Director General. "The crop protection industry is only one of many links in the food chain. As such, we realise that the sustainable use of crop protection products is a challenge that requires committed teamwork and we take this responsibility seriously. We work closely with other stakeholders in the food chain and wider agricultural community to ensure that crop protection products are used in a safe and sustainable way."

The Sense+Sustainability Campaign is the third of three linked campaigns run by ECPA and its national associations. It follows fast on the heels of two previous pan-European campaigns: CommonGround, which emphasised the benefits of crop protection products, and Field2Fork, which aimed to correct misconceptions about residues.

The current campaign will be rolled out by ECPA and in the countries of participating associations through to March 2007. A dedicated campaign site (www.ecpa.be/Sense+Sustainability) in four European languages (English, Danish, Polish and Greek) has already gone live, featuring all of the campaign messages, materials and a range of resources for journalists.