Pesticide Action Network International’s Post

The most comprehensive solution and alternative to #pesticides is #agroecology. Pesticides are made redundant in agroecological systems where #soil biology, #biodiversity, and #holisticmanagement practices take care of plant protection. Agroecology is a holistic approach relying on crop diversification and crop rotation to prevent pests and diseases that easily spread across monocultures. Improved #agrobiodiversity makes ecosystems more #resilient. We need policymakers to integrate agroecology into EU and national policies to make pesticides a thing of the past. EU citizens are calling for pesticide-free, sustainable #agriculture. Today we called on Ursula von der Leyen and the European Commission to prioritise a #PesticideFreeEU in all EU strategies. Europe’s health and biodiversity depend on decisive action. Reinstate bold pesticide reduction goals for a healthier Europe! 🌍 #ProtectOurHealth

PESTICIDES Pesticides are substances that are used to control and protect crops against pests. This includes herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and other substances used to control other types of pests. Pesticides, in various forms, have been used for millennia in agriculture. It was common for ancient agricultural societies to use naturally occurring elements such as sulfur, arsenic, or mercury to poison crop pests. Today, pesticides are often produced synthetically and designed to target specific organisms. They can be important for the protection of crops, farmers’ produce, and increases in crop yields. But pesticides can also have negative impacts on local biodiversity, and when they’re used without appropriate safety protocols, can be toxic to the farmers or workers applying them.  

[PRACTICE ABSTRACT] Use of kaolin to minimise B. oleae damage in olive crops. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e-BVEFiS #innovation #pesticides #environment #sustainableagriculture IRTA

🐝 We know you may not like weeds and want to get rid of them..but did you know that weeds are also visited by pollinators? 🤔 As the #UnitedNations say "A world without pollinators would equal a world without food diversity". That's why the #agroecologyforweeds partners have messages to spread on the #WorldBeeDay: ⛔ REDUCTION of pesticides & #herbicides that cause #pollinator decline ✅ INCREASE of #biodiversity and plant-pollinator networks 💡 Weeds are still plants that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...management must be done carefully taking into account pollination! #agroecology #agroecologyisgood #goodhorizon #HorizonEurope

📢 Yesterday, we joined the #PesticideFreeEU demonstration at Place de Luxembourg, standing alongside NGOs to call on the European Commission to reinstate bold #PesticidesReduction targets and to ensure genuine progress through an effective pesticide monitoring indicator. 🌍    Minimising dependence on external inputs is at the 💚 of the #organic approach to #PlantHealth. By focusing on resilient systems, #OrganicFarmers are already showing that sustainable farming can succeed with little to no pesticides. Read our leaflet to find out more about the preventive & indirect measures #OrganicFarmers use to produce w/out or w/minimal inputs 👇  https://lnkd.in/e6eZqsex #OrganicIsPartOfTheSolution

🐝💔 How Do Pesticides Affect Pollen and Bees? 💔🐝 Pesticides are having a devastating impact on bees, crucial pollinators for many ecosystems and agricultural systems, by contaminating the pollen they collect and consume. 🌼🚫 Discover more about the effects of pesticides on bees and what measures can be taken to protect them here: https://lnkd.in/dH3w56cw #SaveTheBees #PesticideImpact 🌍🐝

🐛 Did you know that #caterpillar 'noses' are surprisingly sophisticated? Research into caterpillars' 'sense of smell' might help protect crops without the use of harmful pesticides! Alexander Haverkamp explains how that works 👇 Large White caterpillars can completely destroy a cabbage harvest. In some parts of the world, the Large White caterpillars even threaten cabbage harvests in entire regions. A new study now adds to the knowledge of how caterpillars detect their environment, which makes changing the insects’ behaviour possible. The caterpillar’s behaviour can be influenced by growing caterpillar-repelling plants in between the cabbage crops. Combined with the availability of plants favoured by the caterpillars elsewhere, caterpillars can be lured away from the crop. 🦋 Want to know more? Read the article 👉 https://lnkd.in/eenukm8t #entomology #pesticides #cropprotection #sustainability

🍃 ICYMI, watch the Pesticides and Agroecology webinar from April 5, which focused on the agroecology, land stewardship, and environmental justice work that BIPOC farmers and worker-owned cooperatives are doing to address pesticides, prevent cancer, and transform our food system. https://buff.ly/3UqYSI0 #pesticides #agroecology #landstewardship #environmentaljustice #climatejustice @wukchumnifarms @wukchumnitribe @ccejn @blackzocalo

The use of agrochemicals is not a necessity if you have adequate management of the agroecosystem, where you include diversity, soil protection, organic restitution alternatives, and biological pest and disease control. Regenerative and biodynamic agricultural practices are essential to achieve sustainable agroproductive systems.

🌼 Are #flowerstrips deadly traps for pollinators? This is a vital question. As agricultural practices intensify, pollinator populations drop drastically. 🌸 Field border plantings can increase the diversity and abundance of pollinators yet recent studies suggest that these areas contain #pesticides. 🐝 So a new study (Ward et al. 2022) specifically looked at wild bees and honey bees and their #contamination risk. Pesticide load of air, soil, plants and the insects themselves in field border plantings were analyzed. The top five pesticides detected in all samples were: Bifenthrin (insecticide, not approved in the EU) Thiobencarb (herbicide) Metolaclor (herbicide) Propanil (herbicide) Fluopyram (fungicide) Most types were detected in the air (24) then soils (21), then flowers (16). ⚠️ The plants in the flower strips did not receive a direct pesticide application yet contained pesticides of the adjacent fields as well as pesticides that were not used there. 👉🏼 The pesticide concentration on bees was lower than that in flowers but higher than that of the soil. 🧪 We also know by now, that the exposure pollinators receive are highly #mixed. The interactions of the chemicals together often lead to lethal or sublethal effects. Often Herbicides + Fungicides become lethal insecticides in combination. 👁 What looks beautiful to the eye and is often planted with good intentions or because it's rewarded financially, is not reaching the goals if fields are still treated with pesticides. 🛡 Buffer zones would be required that include high non-flowering hedges to absorb the air drift plus deep rooting native grasses to minimize soil leakage. Or we start farming regeneratively.... 👉🏼 With all our measures to "save" biodiversity, they will not succeed if we do not transform our land use systems, especially agriculture. photo: European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) image credit: #recelioUzzy