The environmental yardstick for pesticides: a practical indicator used in the Netherlands

The environmental yardstick for pesticides has been developed as a tool for farmers to select pesticides with the least environmental impact and to quantify the impact of their use at the crop/farm level, regional level and national level. For each pesticide the yardstick assigns environmental impact points for the risk to water organisms, the risk of groundwater contamination and the risk to soil organisms. It is presently used in the Netherlands as a management tool for farmers and technical consultants, as a tool for monitoring the environmental performance of farmers, as a tool for setting standards for ecolabels and as a policy evaluation tool.