At least 17 European Union (EU) agriculture ministers are calling for a postponement of the mandatory new obligation to electronically fill in the plant rotation log.The decision would undermine the collection of data on plant protection products, which is aimed at reducing red tape for farmers.

Under the legislation, farmers will have to keep electronic records of pesticide use from 1 January 2026 to enable member states to report to Eurostat, the European statistics agency.

Polish Minister of Agriculture Czesław Adam Siekierski, 23 September He noted that farmers must be properly informed and trained, otherwise data will be inaccurate and useless.

Poland's position was supported by many countries, including Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Italy and others. Only Denmark argued that a delay was not necessary and that countries had enough time to prepare.

The EU lacks clear data on the use of pesticides in different crops, as the statistics are based only on the sale of products and not on real data. The European Commission has highlighted this problem, pointing out that delaying the collection of personal data will undermine Member States' ability to meet their obligations.

Martin Dermine, director of the non-governmental organisation "PAN Europe", warned that delaying mandatory data collection would leave regulators "in the dark" and unable to effectively reduce pesticide use.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski also opposed Poland's proposal, arguing that the delay would undermine member states' ability to meet their obligations.