2009年9月24日， 欧洲部长理事会 投票通过农药授权条例，报告 农民卫士. The new regulation changes the approval of pesticides from the risk-based approach to the use of hazard-based “cut-off” criteria.
专家警告说，如果没有适当的工具来保护作物免受病虫害侵害，新规定将降低作物产量和质量，并增加消费者的食品成本，作物保护协会 (注册会计师) 说一些 15% 到 20% 的批准作物保护产品可能会因此丢失。
“It is scandalous that this legislation has been passed at a time of mounting concern over food security,” said CPA chief executive Dominic Dyer. “These rules are so at odds with the urgent demands placed on modern, productive agriculture that they call into question the entire EU policy-making process.” Dyer said that the entire UK food chain had spoken out against the new rules, and the UK government voted against the regulation after the EU repeatedly refused to carry out an impact assessment into the new rules.
在法规通过的同一天，联合国呼吁 70% 到 2050 年提高农业生产力。