There is no crop for others.
Every harvest becomes someone's meal: a family in Guntur, a school lunch in Pune, a child in Hamburg. Grow every lot the way you would grow food for your own home.
The same spray can feed your family and fail at a foreign port.
Each importing country sets its own Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) in mg/kg. Where it has none for a pesticide on a crop, a near-zero default applies. A lot that is legal in India can still be rejected abroad.
Default limit in the EU, UK and Japan when no specific MRL exists for that pesticide on that crop.
EU Reg. 396/2005; Japan Positive List SystemIndian rice consignments reported rejected through the EU alert system for pesticide residues between 2021 and 2025.
As reported by ICRIER (Working Paper 436)From this date the EU cut clothianidin and thiamethoxam to the limit of quantification on all imports, including tea, rice and spices.
EU Reg. 2023/334, per USDA FAS summaryWhat you can do this season
Farmers
Grow safe, harvest right, sell with confidence.
- Know where your crop is going before you spray
- Keep a spray record for every plot
- Respect the label waiting period
FPOs and cooperatives
Build a supply that buyers can rely on.
- Train members by crop stage
- Collect spray records and keep lots apart
- Arrange pre-harvest tests
Processors and exporters
Reduce compliance risk before dispatch.
- Approve suppliers on records and results
- Test lots against the destination's limits
- Trace every lot back to its plots
Knowing the rules is the start. Keeping records is the proof.
Farmers and supply-chain partners need practical guidance, training, reliable records and tools that help them apply good practice every season. ISRI and S360 are building this together, starting with one crop in one cluster.
- Technical guidance and research
- Farmer and FPO training
- Crop-specific food-safety awareness
- Supply-chain capacity building
Explore ISRI programmes: hi@isri.earth
- Digital farm and spray records
- Harvest-lot traceability
- Testing and corrective-action records
- Supply-chain compliance workflows
Discuss digital solutions with S360: hi@s360.earth
Records and tools support good practice and documentation. They do not by themselves guarantee food safety, MRL compliance, export acceptance or certification.
Ask four questions before any lot leaves the farm.
- Would I serve this to my own child today?If the answer needs a pause, the lot is not ready.
- Did I wait the full days written on the label?Count from the last spray, not the first. For export, follow the buyer's crop protection plan and test: a longer wait alone does not guarantee a foreign limit is met.
- Do I know exactly what was sprayed, when and how much?Complete records help show good practice, meet buyer requirements and strengthen your position in quality-based markets.
- Was it dried, stored and packed clean?Mould, dust and fumigants cause rejections too.
Four pages, one idea.
Who sets the limit?
How the EU, UK, Japan, US and India set residue limits, what changed in 2025–26, and which commodities are under extra checks.
Seven stages · aquacultureField to plate
What to do, and what never to do, from season planning to the exporter's last test.
Draft reference · not for farm decisionsWaiting periods (draft reference)
What a waiting period is, and a draft reference list under expert review. Always follow the product label.
For farmers, FPOs and processorsTen rules to share
Simple rules for village meetings and WhatsApp groups, ready to copy.