The role of public consultations in decision-making on future agricultural pesticide use: insights from European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy public consultation

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the role of public consultations in complex agri-environmental policy-making. Through a critical discourse analysis of submissions to the public consultation concerning the European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy, we examine the role of public consultations as a democratic process and the extent to which their non-deliberative nature advances solutions to contentious and complex challenges. We explore different perspectives around the future of agricultural pesticide use and find evidence of polarised submissions. Those in favour of reducing pesticides tend to argue on the grounds of planetary and human health, emphasizing that alternatives already exist and resistance to change results from a lack of political will. Those arguing against setting further restrictions on pesticide use, focus on food security and the lack of viable alternatives. Taking inspiration from Arnstein’s (1969) [A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), 216–224] ladder of participation and Fishkin’s (2011) [Making deliberative democracy practical. Chapter 4. In When the people speak: Deliberative democracy and public consultation (pp. 95–105] questions around what makes deliberative democracy practical, we argue that consultations are not merely ‘tokenistic’, but do appear to be inadequate where discourses are strongly polarised, as they are not sufficiently inclusive or thoughtful, using scientific findings only where these support pre-existing views. As such, we explore how other deliberative approaches may be more adequate for seeking legitimate solutions to complex challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• Pesticides
• agriculture
• environment
• critical discourse
• participatory democracy
• public consultation

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme for research & innovation, which was funded the SPRINT project under grant agreement no 862568.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Competing interest

The authors report no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 Consultation was open from February to March 2020. Submissions are available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12183-Sustainable-food-farm-to-fork-strategy_en.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by European Commission: [Grant Number 862568].

Notes on contributors

Ana Frelih-Larsen

Ana Frelih-Larsen is a Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, where she coordinates the Institute’s activities on agriculture and soil. Working at science-policy interface, she focuses on the development and implementation of European and national agri-environment-climate policies. She is also particularly interested in knowledge and capacity building that enable transition to more sustainable agri-food systems.

Charlotte-Anne Chivers

Charlotte-Anne Chivers is a Research Fellow at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), University of Gloucestershire. Her main research interests include sustainable agriculture, soil health, water quality, farming extension, and agri-environment policy.

Irina Herb

Irina Herb worked as a Researcher at Ecologic Institute Berlin, Germany, where she focused on sustainability in agriculture and food systems. Her main current research interests include social justice, knowledge and capacity building, postcolonial theory, and gender.

Jane Mills

Jane Mills is an Associate Professor in Agri-environmental Behaviours at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), University of Gloucestershire, UK. Her main research interests focus on the social aspects of agri-environmental policy, sustainable agriculture, and environmental management. She is particularly interested in understanding farmer behaviour in the context of sustainable agricultural practices and in researching collaborative institutional arrangements and knowledge exchange processes which effectively reconcile agricultural production and environmental quality objectives.

Matt Reed

Matt Reed is an Associate Professor of Food Citizenship at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), University of Gloucestershire, UK. His main areas of research are focused on the interface of technology and nature, particularly in food and agriculture. His work focuses on how people are increasingly constructing new relationships and forms of governance around food and farming.