Project Phytosol

Soils are largely overlooked in monitoring programs for pesticide residues in the environment, which mainly concern water and air. But soils are the primary containers for plant protection products and are at the interface of the various compartments. They can then constitute an indirect source of these products in the environment, in food and have an impact on crop yields, in particular through the degradation of the biological quality of soils.

One of the missions of Anses (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety) is to ensure human health and safety with regard to the environment and also to contribute to the protection of plant health. In that context, Anses, in 2018, asked the InfoSol unit to set up a 3-year prospective study on the measurement of residues of plant protection substances currently authorized in soils. This study is based on the French soil monitoring network: the RMQS.

The project has a double objective:

1. Evaluate the technical feasibility of using the RMQS for pesticides monitoring in soils;
2. collect first data on the presence of pesticide residues in cultivated soils (mainly in field crops).

A first and crucial step was the choice of the laboratory in charge of measuring pesticides in soils as it is necessary to ensure a robust and reliable implementation of the analytical methods. Thus a research laboratory was chosen: the Laboratory of Physico-and-Toxic Chemistry of the Environment (LPTC – UMR 5805 EPOC) from the University of Bordeaux.

The data produced from the measurements of pesticides will be interpreted in the light of the information collected through agronomic surveys, in particular the applications of pesticides during the sampling year. This will make it possible to identify the molecules which can be qualified as pesticide residues, in particular substances which should have been degraded but which are still found in soils after a period well beyond their half-life.

The results of this study are eagerly awaited since they will make it possible to judge the feasibility and relevance of using the RMQS for the establishment of regular and perennial monitoring of  pesticides residues in soils nationwide.

Funding: Anses

Beginning year: 2018

Duration: 3 years