The French government has decided to completely stop aerial spraying with pesticides. The measure will progressively affect all crops which had exceptional authorization to perform aerial applications. With this measure, which will be enforced immediately, the Government intends to stop the aerial spraying in maize crops and, within 18 months, those performed in rice crops and vineyards. Aerial spraying of bananas in the French West Indies have also been cancelled.
Aerial sprayings by planes or helicopters were generally banned in the EU via the Directive on Sustainable Use of Plant Protection (transposed into Spain by Royal Decree 1311/2012) in order to minimize the environmental impact of pesticides. However, the law protects the use of them in exceptional cases where it's impossible to apply the pesticides by any other mean because of technical or economic reasons. France has now decided to cancel all exceptions.
Spain's situation
In Spain, after the publication of Royal Decree 1311 in September 2012, conducting aerial spraying is generally prohibited, but there are a few exceptions, prior administrative approval, for the cases that require it and only with pesticides that the Ministry has expressly authorized for aerial treatments.
A report from the Ministry of Agriculture analysing the situation of aerial spraying in Spain in mid-2013 concluded aerial sprayings had to be conducted in cases where the applications couldn't be done by land or to control pests of special emphasis.
In Spain, the Ministry has authorized about twenty PPP for aerial application in certain crops.
Source: agroquimica.es