European Union plans to restrict chemical use by farmers in Europe could reduce harvests at a time of global food shortages, farmers, academics, regulators and pesticide makers warned yesterday. Crops such as apples and hops could no longer be grown on the continent if EU draft plans are not amended, they said. Wheat and potato yields could drop by almost a third, according to industry-sponsored research. "If we cannot use these substances, there will be many crops that can no longer be grown in Europe, said Luc Peeters, of Copa-Cogeca, an organisation representing small farmers and co-operatives. Friedhelm Schmider, director-general of the European Crop Protection Association, which represents chemical companies, said: "For many of these pests we have run out of solutions." An EU review of available products, begun in 1991, has taken more than half the 952 available then off the market on safety grounds. The new legislation could eliminate more. The more intensive use of the remaining permitted substances would lead to resistant pests, according to a group of leading scientists from seven European countries who drafted a report for the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, a government research body. That would make cultivation of crops such as grapes, fresh fruit and vegetables in Europe "problematic, or uncompetitive", they said. Research commissioned from Italian consultancy Nomisma forecast drops in yields of about 30 per cent by 2012. The EU would lose its self-sufficiency in wheat, potatoes, wine and cereals. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008