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Key messages: Pesticide residues are present in most EU soils under agricultural use. Historically applied, non-approved pesticides still represent a significant part of the chemical cocktail in soils.
Pesticides protect crops by controlling pests, thus enabling stable crop production and contributing to food security. On the other hand, at high concentrations, they can be toxic to non-target species, which affects soil communities and their associated ecosystem services (for example, through reduced mineralisation and nitrification).
Soils, through its filtering and storage capacity, are a sink for contaminants, a function which is of particular importance for soils under agricultural and urban soil uses. Substances applied to plant parts above ground reach soils through spray and plant residues.
Monitoring studies of soils in Europe have confirmed that pesticides occur widely. The pesticide module of the Land use/cover area frame statistical survey (LUCAS Soil Pesticides) is the first continental-scale monitoring of pesticide residues in European agricultural soils ().
Results from the 2018 survey show at least one pesticide residue above the quantification limit (LOQ). Pesticide residues were found in 74.5% of the 3,473 sites investigated; most samples (57.1%) had at least two different pesticide residues, 29.8% had more than five and 11.1% had more than 10 ().
Large studies like this are important because it is difficult to predict pesticide occurrences from local studies or for specific management types (e.g. organic versus conventional) (). However, regional studies are still important since they focus on specifically selected sites, helping clarify the causes of pesticide occurrences.
A high incidence of pesticide residues is also found in organically-managed fields and non-managed areas such as forests and permanent grasslands (; ). detected pesticides in 98% of 47 studied soils across France (up to 33 different substances simultaneously, and a cocktail effect of molecules affecting soil biodiversity (; ; )). A moderate to high risk for earthworms in arable soils was mostly attributed to insecticides and/or acaricides.
found that soils from conventional farms contained the highest mixtures of pesticide residues, with a maximum of 16 residues per sample. Soils from organic farms had significantly fewer residues, with a maximum of five residues per sample. Another study concluded that organic soils presented 70-90% lower residue concentrations than corresponding conventional soils (indicating significantly reduced management intensity). The residues with the highest frequency of detection and the highest content in soil were herbicides: glyphosate and its transformation product, AMPA, contributed 70% of cumulative herbicide residues.
Please consult the relevant indicators and signals below for a more comprehensive overview on the topic.
Zero Pollution Action Plan 2030 target or policy objectives
- Reduce the impact of soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health and ecosystems ().
- Reduce nutrient losses to the environment from both organic and mineral fertilisers by at least 50% while maintaining soil fertility ().
- Achieve healthy soils by 2025. This entails detecting soil pollution at unacceptable risk levels and restoring/remediating ().
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Other relevant indicators and signals
References and footnotes
- a b cVieira, D., et al., 2023, Pesticides residues in European agricultural soils - Results from LUCAS 2018 soil module, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC133940).
- ↵Knuth, D., et al., 2024, ‘Pesticide Residues in Organic and Conventional Agricultural Soils across Europe: Measured and Predicted’, Environmental Science & Technology 58, pp. 67446752 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c09059).
- Hvězdová, M., et al., 2018, ‘Currently and recently used pesticides in Central European arable soils’, Science of the Total Environment 613–614, pp. 361-370.a b
- a bFroger C., et al., 2023, ‘Pesticide Residues in French Soils: Occurrence, Risks, and Persistence’ Environmental Science & Technology 57(20), pp. 7818-7827 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c09591).
- ↵Kosubová, P., et al., 2020, ‘Spatial and temporal distribution of the currently-used and recently-banned pesticides in arable soils of the Czech Republic’, Chemosphere 254, 126902 ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32361539/).
- Geissen V., et al., 2021, Cocktails of pesticide residues in conventional and organic farming systems in Europe – Legacy of the past and turning point for the future, Environmental Pollution, 278, 116827.a b
- EC, 2021, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All’ (SWD (2021) 140 final).↵
- EC, 2020, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’ (COM/2020/381 final).↵
- ↵EC, 2023, ‘Proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience’ (https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/proposal-directive-soil-monitoring-and-resilience_en) accessed 8 August 2024.