Farming in a Controlled Environment
“If massive increases in agricultural yield are not achieved, matched by massive decreases in the use of water and fossil fuels, a billion or more people may face starvation.” (article)
Why Do Farmers Use Pesticides?
First let’s define “pesticides”:
Pesticides are “chemical substances used to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pest ranging from insects (i.e., insecticides), rodents (i.e., rodenticides) and weeds (herbicides) to microorganisms (i.e., algicides, fungicides or bactericides).” (source)
Farmers can combat pests in many ways:
- staggered harvest schedules with long-short intervals,
- harvesting early in the pests’ lifecycle,
- border strip harvesting (leaving uncut strips intermittently throughout field to focus pests and house beneficial insects),
- maintaining balanced and healthy soil,
- minimizing wheel traffic and compaction on soil (i.e reducing number of passes by the tractor/swather/rake, etc.),
- optimizing fall harvest time,
- chemical pesticides and herbicides
The need to utilize pesticides/herbicides can vary by climate, environment, and geographical location so each farm poses different needs and requires different actions.
Insecticides
Insecticides are chemicals used to kill insect pests. DDT is a well-known insecticide that was banned in North America in 1972. For more information about the DDT Story (Pesticide Action Network), click here. Other insect pesticides common today are atrazine and the neonicotinoid, clothianidin.
Neonicotinoids are a relatively new class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine. The name literally means “new nicotine-like insecticides”. Neonicotinoids, “neo-nics” for short, are neurotoxins that act on the central nervous system of the exposed insect. Neonicotinoids infect a plant throughout its entire system, including the nectar and pollen. In addition, neonicotinoid insecticides are persistent, meaning that they do not break down quickly in soil. They are water soluble and have the potential to easily run off into local watercourses, where they can potentially harm aquatic insects. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that neonicotinoid insecticides are highly toxic to honey bees and other beneficial insects. Click here for a link to Ontario’s Neonicotinoid Regulations.
Herbicides
Herbicides are chemicals used to kill undesirable plants such as weeds or residual crop from the previous year. Some crops, like corn for instance, compete poorly with other plants so farmers find it necessary to spray a herbicide to ensure successful crop growth. Herbicides can also be used to dry down crop (“crop desiccant”) for a more consistent harvest. Herbicide drift occurs when the wind carries the herbicide into a non-target field.
For information about Monsanto’s “Round Up” or glyphosate, click here
Pesticides & Herbicides News
GENERAL FARMING NEWS – Controlled Environment (reverse chronological order)
For other information:
Canada’s New Cannabis Industry
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List of Ontario’s Issues
Disclaimer: This information has been compiled through private amateur research for the purpose of allowing the reader to make an informed and educated decision. However, while the information is believed to be reliable, accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
APPENDICES
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AO News - Farming Controlled Environment