AHDB viewpoint: The UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP)

The Government recently unveiled the UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP) 2025. Sacha White, Lead Crop Protection Scientist, examines some of the finer details.

The UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP) sets out the Government’s strategy for managing pesticide use. It helps the UK meet statutory obligations associated with pesticide regulation.

It covers any plant protection products (PPP) for professional, amenity and amateur uses, including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, molluscicides and plant growth regulators.

The latest plan was released on 21 March 2025.

NAP 2025 will:

• Encourage the uptake of integrated pest management (IPM)
• Establish targets and deadlines for pesticide-use reductions
• Build and strengthen compliance to support best practice

The NAP recognises that UK farming is moving in the right direction, especially when compared to many other countries. For example, between 1990 and 2020, the UK achieved a 60% reduction in pesticide use by weight.

However, one of the most notable changes is the move away from the blunt metric of pesticide weights (or area treated) towards a new measure that better reflects environmental impacts – Pesticide Load Indicator (PLI).

The UK PLI is based on 20 metrics associated with the potential harm, behaviour and use associated with specific pesticides.

By 2030, the NAP aims to reduce each metric by at least 10% compared to a 2018 baseline and, importantly, support sustainable crop production.

Critically, it will focus on trends, because the plan recognises the seasonal influences on pesticide usage.

IPM coordinates the prevention, detection and control of pests, weeds and diseases, with chemistry used as an intervention of last resort.

It is unsurprising that IPM features prominently in the latest NAP.

AHDB has invested in IPM for many years. It covers some of our highest-profile initiatives, such as the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL), the fungicide performance project and resistance monitoring programmes.

IPM is also often a topic covered in our network of Monitor Farms and Strategic Cereal Farms.

As IPM is at the heart of the NAP, it will stimulate further activity in this area. The NAP specifically mentions the role of sustainable farming incentives in supporting IPM uptake, which raises hope that funding will continue in this area.

Much of the NAP is about continuing the good work already under way to ensure that the basics are done well.

For example, the NAP should increase:

• The use of effective IPM plans
• The amount of clear and easily accessible IPM guidance
• The number of trained professionals to advise on or apply plant protection products
• The effectiveness of inspections (for example, to ensure adherence to label instructions)

The plan also focuses on innovation, which is always urgently required.

Key initiatives, such as the Farming Innovation Programme, will help fund and stimulate the next wave of innovation, which will increasingly require a mix of hardware and software solutions.

The need to remove regulatory barriers is also acknowledged, which may be required to maximise the opportunity of drone technologies, for example.

One of the NAP’s actions relates to the direct funding of applied research to plug crop protection gaps in major crops. Naturally, we support this and will continue to work with the Government to ensure the most efficient use of levy funds.

The NAP also highlights the potential role of biopesticides in IPM.

Biopesticides can be more difficult to use than traditional chemistry, with numerous environmental factors affecting efficacy.

Later this spring, we will issue a research call for winter wheat biopesticide efficacy trials that focus on disease control. We are also considering work on biopesticides to control cabbage stem flea beetle.

The need to horizon scan to identify and quantify the potential impacts associated with chemistry loss is also cited. This is also welcome. It is important to learn lessons from the past.

We are also interested in maintaining a pesticide risk register to help guide our investment. There is scope to work closer with the Government to ensure decisions fully account for all risks, including those associated with crop productivity losses.

Overall, the NAP is forward-looking and ambitious, yet realistic. It does not impose new restrictions or requirements on farmers but will require action from all four UK governments, industry and land managers to make it work.

AHDB is well positioned and ready to help make the NAP a success.