In Europe, plant health has moved from laboratories and trial fields to political and economic debates. What was once resolved between inspectors and technicians is now discussed in Brussels, in national parliaments and in the assemblies of farmers’ organizations. On a continent that aspires to produce food sustainably, plant health has become the foundation of food security.
The past five years have been particularly intense. The European Union has strengthened its regulatory framework with a series of regulations aimed at safeguarding the continent’s biosecurity. The full implementation of Regulation 2016/2031 consolidated a preventive approach that requires anticipating every risk: more border controls, greater traceability and stricter requirements for nurseries and professional operators. Regulation 2017/625 integrated plant health into the official control system, creating a more homogeneous and demanding structure.
In 2024–2025, the EU went a step further with the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2024/3115, in force since 5 January 2025. This reform updates and reinforces Regulation 2016/2031 with the aim of modernizing assessment procedures, improving coordination among Member States and strengthening surveillance against emerging pests. It is a necessary adaptation in a scenario where phytosanitary risk is growing faster than the capacity to respond.
What’s next: the Plant Health Omnibus Regulation
Building on this existing framework, the proposed Omnibus Regulation—currently under debate in 2026—aims to redefine much of the European plant health system. It is not a simple technical adjustment but a far‑reaching revision intended to simplify and update key rules, from Regulation 1107/2009 on plant protection products to biocides legislation and the sustainable use framework for pesticides. The goal is clear: to ensure that regulation supports—rather than hinders—the arrival of new tools to protect crops.
The Omnibus seeks to streamline product registration, reduce administrative burdens and improve the availability of active substances at a time when many are disappearing from the market. Among its most notable proposals is the possibility of approving certain substances indefinitely—an unprecedented measure intended to ensure that farmers do not lose access to essential tools. It also incorporates a more rigorous approach to the assessment of cumulative and synergistic risks, a growing demand in the field of food safety. In addition, it adjusts rules related to biocides and feed additives, strengthening the coherence of the system and its alignment with current challenges.
The sector’s view: broad support, but not unconditional
The sector welcomes the Omnibus with a mix of relief and expectation. The plant protection industry and biocontrol companies see it as an opportunity to unlock processes that have long delayed the arrival of new solutions to the field. Farmers’ organizations, for their part, support it because they recognize a genuine attempt to speed up the registration of tools, ensure the availability of active substances and correct the bureaucratic overload that currently constrains phytosanitary management. Even so, they insist that the reform must be ambitious and operational: simplifying procedures is not enough if tools do not reach farmers with the speed and effectiveness demanded by today’s scenario.
The view from the field: prevention yes, but with tools
Farmers’ organizations have long warned that regulation is advancing faster than the solutions available. ASAJA, COAG, UPA and Cooperativas Agro‑alimentarias share a diagnosis repeated in every sectoral forum: prevention is necessary, but the regulatory burden is reaching levels that are difficult for many farms to bear.
The progressive withdrawal of active substances is one of the most sensitive issues. For farmers, the equation is simple: if products disappear without effective alternatives, sustainability stops being a transition and becomes a leap into the void. From COITAND, organizer of the upcoming National Symposium on Plant Health, the message has been clear: “Without viable phytosanitary alternatives, the transition is not a transition, but a renunciation.”
Added to this pressure is administrative complexity. The plant passport system, reinforced controls and the obligation to register every movement of plant material have professionalized management but also multiplied paperwork. For small and medium‑sized farms, it means dedicating time and resources they do not always have.
Innovation: the new language of plant health
Innovation has become the true engine of plant health. It is not an abstract concept or a slogan; it is the practical response to a scenario where pests advance faster than regulation, where climate change alters biological cycles and where farmers need tools capable of meeting the challenge.
Companies in the sector are clear about this. Investment is shifting toward solutions that combine effectiveness, sustainability and rapid adoption. Biocontrol—pheromones, microorganisms, natural extracts—is no longer a niche but a strategic pillar. New genomic techniques make it possible to develop more resistant varieties without sacrificing productivity. Artificial intelligence is beginning to detect pests before the human eye can see them. And agricultural robotics promises to intervene with surgical precision, reducing treatments and optimizing resources.
If ultimately approved, the Omnibus Regulation will be key to ensuring that these solutions reach the field sooner. And Regulation (EU) 2024/3115 has already laid the groundwork for more agile surveillance and more coordinated responses.
Innovation is not a complement to plant health; it is its new backbone. In a context where the withdrawal of active substances is advancing faster than the arrival of alternatives, technology becomes the only way to ensure that sustainability is not synonymous with sacrifice but with opportunity.
A unique opportunity
Europe faces an enormous challenge, but also a historic opportunity. If it succeeds in shaping a regulatory framework that accompanies this wave of innovation—one that protects without paralyzing, that promotes without suffocating—it can position itself at the global forefront of sustainable production. If it fails, it risks losing competitiveness, productive capacity and food autonomy.
Plant health will, to a large extent, be the factor that tips the balance one way or the other. And in that balance lies not only the health of plants, but the resilience of an entire agricultural model. The future of European agriculture will depend on its ability to anticipate, innovate and protect. And that future begins, precisely, with plant health.al.
