It's not just cocoa and coffee prices that are skyrocketing – olive oil has also become a luxury item. This is due to massive harvest failures in Europe's most important producing countries. In Spain, extreme drought and heat waves have led to drastic yield losses, while in Italy, heavy rainfall has affected the harvest. In addition, olive trees are being attacked by pests and fungal diseases. As a result, the price of 100 kilograms of extra virgin olive oil has skyrocketed from 211 francs in 2019 to as much as 750 francs in mid-2023, according to the International Olive Council – an increase of more than threefold. According to the NZZ, no other food has seen a comparable price trend.

In Italy and Spain, the situation is so dramatic that supermarkets chain their olive oil bottles together to protect them from theft, as reported by ‘SRF’.

Rape as an alternative – but cultivation is shrinking

Rapeseed oil could be a viable alternative to olive oil – but in Europe, of all places, rapeseed cultivation is declining. One of the main reasons for this is that the approval of modern pesticides is increasingly being blocked.

The fact that rapeseed cultivation is declining in this country is also felt by beekeepers, because rapeseed is an excellent bee plant. But oilseed rape is not only a source of food for bees – there are many other good reasons for growing oilseed rape. This member of the mustard family not only benefits soil life, it is also used to produce high-quality edible oils, technical oils, biodiesel and protein-rich animal feed.

Nothing works without plant protection products

Without modern crop protection products, it is impossible to protect crops whose cultivation is already in decline. In addition, without effective crop protection products, the willingness to cultivate crops naturally declines. In this context, the production of rapeseed as an alternative crop to palm oil, which is frowned upon for ideological reasons, would actually be important. However, without effective crop protection products, rapeseed cannot fulfil this role, let alone act as an alternative to scarce olive oil. Modern crop protection products are essential to protect crops and keep yields stable.

Unfortunately, beekeepers themselves have actively helped to ban the proven neonicotinoids from the European and Swiss markets. And this despite the fact that seed dressing has clear advantages over spraying and bees and pollinating insects are less exposed. The ban was imposed in response to a single incident in which dust from seed dressing blew away during the sowing process, killing neighbouring bee colonies. If insecticide-treated seed is consistently sown using vacuum seeders, dusting can be successfully prevented. Furthermore, the neonicotinoid ban was justified on the basis of pure laboratory studies.

This has been sharply criticised by renowned scientists. They claim that these studies did not provide a comprehensive overview of the situation and yet have led to economic losses of hundreds of millions of dollars for farmers. ‘The ban on neonicotinoids has had a significant economic cost for farmers in terms of lower yields and for consumers in terms of higher food prices, as there are few, if any, alternatives to chemical pest control,’ the scientists concluded, as originally published on ‘Saifood’.

Instead of general bans, targeted risk-reducing measures would be more sensible – this would allow farmers to continue to use essential crop protection products. Managing risks instead of standing still. Furthermore, decisions should be based on broader occurrences than on individual cases of poor agricultural practice. To do this, field studies are needed, not just pure laboratory experiments as a basis for decision-making