The Contributions of Pesticides to Pest Management in Meeting the Global Need for Food Production by 2050
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Number 55 November 2014 The Contributions of Pesticides to Pest Management in Meeting the Global Need for Food Production by 2050 Considering the inevitability of a growing population, cost-efficient food production must increase; with effective policies, proper regulation, and safety training, pesticide use will continue to play an important role in that food production. (Photo from happykanppy/Shutterstock.) AbstrAct • improved the prospects for long- important role in food production. term sustainable food production. With a special consideration of The term pesticide1 has been catastrophic famines and crop manage- around for centuries, and it describes This paper gives a brief background ment practices of the past, the authors many different chemicals. The term about the use of pesticides and a thor- organize the vast amount of informa- has also—at times—been maligned ough examination of why they have tion around several key concepts: and misunderstood. The authors of become popular and widely used. Con- this publication use extensive data and sidering the inevitability of a growing • Fungicide use and its impact both provide clear examples to establish that population, cost-efficient food produc- in the United States and around the pesticide use in agriculture has tion must increase. Intelligent use of world • increased crop yield and quality, pesticides has led to crop management • Herbicide use, weed management, that is more efficient, sustainable, and • lessened the workload of pest man- and higher yields that have resulted productive (United Nations 2012). from sound weed control practices agement, and Of course there are controversies and challenges, but with effective policies, • Arthropod management involving 1 Italicized terms (except genus/species names and proper regulation, and safety training, insecticide use, with a consideration published material titles) are defined in the Glossary. pesticide use will continue to play an of the problems that have occurred Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of CAST. CAST Issue Paper 55 Task Force Members Authors Larry D. Godfrey, Department of John C. Palumbo, Department of Entomology and Nematology, Entomology, University of Arizona, Stephen C. Weller (Chair), Depart- University of California, Davis Yuma ment of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, Reviewers CAST Liaison West Lafayette, Indiana John J. Jachetta, Dow Agro John Madsen, Exotic and Invasive Albert K. Culbreath, Department Sciences LLC, Zionsville, Indiana Weed Research Unit, USDA– of Plant Pathology, University of Agricultural Research Service, Georgia, Tifton Jason K. Norsworthy, Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Davis, California Leonard Gianessi , Crop Protection Sciences, University of Arkansas, Research Institute, CropLife Foun- Fayetteville dation, Washington, D.C. and a study of the development of groupings include insecticides, fun- many indirect economic effects because current and future effective practices gicides, herbicides, rodenticides, the benefits (economic value) accrue • Pesticide benefits in both the molluscicides, nematicides, plant from the production of additional crop developing and developed world growth regulators, and other materials yields moving through the economy; that protect plants or usefully modify this revenue creates further output, jobs, Along with better pest management, their physiology. Synthetic pesticides and earnings for workers, strengthening pesticides have led to the development have been used for managing pests in local economies. These impacts—eco- of improved agronomic practices such as agriculture in various forms since World nomic value added by crop protection no till, conservation tillage, higher plant War II and are the focus of this paper. technology, employment arising from densities, increased yields, and the ef- Recently, pesticide use has expanded the use of the technologies, income ficient use of water and nutrients. When beyond agriculture to include managing generated by the technologies, and applied in safe, smart ways, pesticides undesirable insects, pathogens, weeds, contribution of crop protection to trade lead to more sustainable agriculture. and animals in the household and land- balances—were quantified for U.S. The authors cite many statistics and scape, including natural and planned en- agriculture (CropLife America 2011). specific examples. They point out that vironments (forests, waterways, parks, State-by-state summaries for each of more than 800 million people in the recreation, etc.). the 50 states were created based on data world are food insecure today and that Pesticides have been used in some collected from 18 field, 26 vegetable, the amount of crop yield lost yearly form for centuries, with sulfur com- and 38 fruit and nut crops. In this analy- to pests can run upwards of 30%. But pounds and botanicals being used sis (based on this subset of crops), crop they are optimistic about developments as early as 2500–1500 BC by the protection products accounted for an occurring around the globe to minimize Sumerians and Chinese for insect and additional $51.4 billion in value derived this loss. When pesticides are effec- disease control. Sulfur, copper, and or- from the use in field crops, $18.9 billion tively applied and fully integrated into ganic mercury were used in the 1800s in fruit and nuts, and $11.5 billion in a comprehensive approach, the world as fungicides, and Bordeaux mix has vegetables, for a total of approximately will be on its way to providing suste- been used since 1885 for powdery and $82 billion in added crop value. Crop nance for the 9 billion humans on earth downy mildew control (Schumann protection products were critical in- in 2050. 1991). A similar pattern occurred for puts for field crops, fruits and nuts, and insect and weed management with the vegetables, but the relative importance IntroductIon early use of inorganics for manage- and ranking among types of products This paper discusses the influ- ment in the late 1800s to early 1900s. varied. For field crops, 36% of the total ence of pesticides in agriculture and Since that time and beginning in the late value of production ($51.4 billion of the how their use has resulted in increased 1930s to the present day, tremendous $141.3 billion) was attributed to the use crop yield and quality and lessened the activity has occurred related to the de- of crop protection products across the drudgery of pest management, which in velopment of synthetic and biological- United States, with herbicide use having turn improved quality of life for farmers based pesticides (Lamberth et al. 2013). the greatest impact. and their families while also improv- Quantifying agricultural produc- Even though pesticide contribu- ing the prospects for long-term sustain- tion and the impacts of pesticides based tions to production and yield efficien- able food production. Pesticide is a term solely on crop yields, however, presents cies are well documented, pesticide use that describes many different chemicals only part of the picture. The increased has not been without societal concerns. that are used to manage pests. Pesticide yield (and value of the yield) fosters The direct effects of pesticide use on 2 COUNCIL FOR AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY agricultural production have been docu- an integrated approach and do not rely None, however, have been used without mented (with appropriate assumptions) solely on the use of pesticides (Whitford some criticism. as previously detailed. These effects et al. 2004). There are groups who The two practices of most con- include improved crop yields and qual- would ban all synthetic pesticide use, troversy have been synthetic fertiliz- ity, better shelf life, limitation of pest saying they are inherently unsafe and ers/pesticides and GMOs. This paper population expansion, and increased cause more problems than they solve. will not address the use of fertilizers incomes, which lead to a multiplier ef- Most groups involved in establishing or GMOs except where they influ- fect within other commercial industries. agriculture policy, however, argue that ence pesticide use, but instead it will Cooper and Dobson (2007) proposed pesticides have a critical role to play in discuss how the use of pesticides has several indirect effects of crop protec- food production and, with the proper enhanced and will continue to improve tion products within the community regulation and training programs, can human capacity to efficiently pro- and society. Although very difficult to be used safely and efficiently. A recent duce enough food to feed the world. quantify, these items are logical exten- special issue of Science serves as an ex- Because there is little scope for expand- sions of the increased crop production, cellent resource on these issues and pro- ing the current arable land area globally including improved nutrition and health, vides an excellent set of articles discuss- (Schreinemachers and Tipraqsa 2012), higher quality of life, food safety, food ing the “Smarter Pest Control” (Science any real increase in the global food sup- security, decreased stress, improved vi- 2013); these articles discuss issues ply will require an intensification of sual aesthetics, conservation of biodi- related to pesticide use as well as their agriculture on currently managed land. versity, and lessened civil unrest.