 This is a bee. It helps plants have sex, connecting their male and female parts so flowers can turn into fruit. That's called pollination. Without bees, global food production would plummet. This is a pesticide. It kills bugs, fungi and weeds that can harm crops. This large-scale extermination has increased food production. But the cost for wild plants, insects, birds, freshwater and soil is enormous. We are in a biodiversity crisis. Species are now going extinct faster than they have for 65 million years, scientists say. Over the past two decades, the number of bugs that get squashed on cars in the UK has fallen by nearly 60%. Pesticides harm people too. They can cause cancers, mutations and reproductive problems. Water companies serving 61 million people around the river Rhine say it's getting ever more difficult to filter pesticides from drinking water. In short, it is time for alternatives. More than 1 million Europeans signed an initiative calling for a phase out of chemical pesticides by 2035. Two years ago, the EU Farm to Fork policy set a target of 50% less pesticides by 2030. But it's not so easy. From Norway to Portugal and from the UK to Poland, Investigate Europe reporters spoke first hand to farmers as well as lobbyists, agroecologists, activists and politicians. They found an alliance of chemical companies and agribusiness lobbies together with conservative politicians defending the status quo. Then came Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Food, fuel and fertilizer prices have gone through the roof. This alliance now says it is not the right time to reduce the use of pesticides. But could this be a false dilemma? Entomologist Josef Settler predicts, by continuing with a current agricultural system, we are ultimately putting the food security of the entire human race at risk.