Giorgos Zeikos, apple farmer and president of the Agia apple producers’ cooperative checks the fruits at an apple orchard in the village of Agia, in Thessaly, Greece, June 12, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Alexandros Avramidis

Europe’s illegal pesticide trade surges as farmers cut costs

At least 14 per cent of pesticides used on EU fields today are illegal

As the cost of spraying crops with pesticides becomes increasingly expensive, farmers in Greece's agricultural heartland have turned to a cheaper alternative: liquids in unlabeled plastic bottles smuggled over land and sea.








A photo of stolen equipment released by police after recovering about $375,000-worth of stolen heavy equipment, trailers, off-road vehicles and snowmobiles from a property near Gilbert Plains, Man., in 2023. Photo: RCMP

Canada’s rural crime problem far from fixed

Farmers on the Prairies are worried about crime rates and safety, but an effective approach to meaningfully reduce rural crime remains out of reach so far

Farmers on the Prairies are worried about crime rates and safety, but an effective approach to meaningfully reduce rural crime remains out of reach so far.