THE loss of plant protection products could cost 44,000 UK jobs and see UK farmers profits drop by £1.73bn - 36 per cent down on current levels.

Andersons, the farm business consultants, also warns that the availability of many iconic British foods could be drastically reduced and that the implications for the control of weeds, disease and pests in key UK crops could see UK agriculture's Gross Value Added (GVA) fall by £1.6bn a year - a 20 per cent drop on the 2009-13 five year average.

The independent report from Andersons was commissioned by the NFU, Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) and the Crop Protection Association (CPA), and looked at the economic impact of plant protection products (PPPs) on UK agriculture and the wider economy.

It said the UK's production of apples, fresh carrots and frozen peas was under threat as a result of the loss or restricted use of 40 active ingredients in products which safeguard healthy growth. They include ten insecticides, 12 fungicides, 16 herbicides and two molluscicides.

Andersons’ assessment of job losses in agriculture, the supply chain and the wider food and drink industry found that up to 44,000 jobs could be lost if these active ingredients were no longer available.

Guy Smith, NFU vice president, said: “We have been warning that in the lifetime of the current European Parliament, we would face significant threats to PPPs. This important and timely report has confirmed and added clarity to the negative impacts that losses and restrictions on PPPs would have on UK food production, on farm and throughout the supply chain.

“It is absolutely essential that farmers have regulation that is risk-based and that it follows sound science to ensure the farming sector keeps growing and contributing to the £97bn UK food and drink industry. For this to happen we need government at both UK and EU level to put British food production at the heart of policy-making across all government departments.”

Nick von Westenholz, CPA chief executive officer, said: “It provides a clear picture of the implications of the flawed system that governs pesticide use in the EU.

“Hopefully European policy-makers will now realise how imperative it is to make a proper assessment of risk and impact when they take decisions affecting food production, and to make sure they foster rather than stifle innovation. If not, farmers can no longer expect to benefit from increasingly targeted and effective crop protection products as industry diverts investment away from Europe.”

David Hutchinson, AIC Strategy Group member, said: “This report highlights the serious effects of policy and regulatory decisions that are not based on sound science. Any crop protection product should be assessed in the wider context of a food production strategy, so that agronomists have at their disposal both cultural controls and a range of chemistry to help farmers and growers sustain UK food production.

“A big concern is that the current EU policy making and regulatory systems are heavily influenced by political considerations and sound science often comes second in assessing agricultural technologies – old and new. In the meantime farming and the wider economy of our food industry will continue to suffer and be placed at an ever increasing competitive disadvantage to those countries outside the EU.”