It appears that scientists, and farmers too, are taking a closer look at the ubiquitous use of neonicotinoid seed treatments in US corn, soybean and other crops. Neonics are powerful insecticides used to coat the outside of a wide variety of seeds including grain and oilseed crops. The brightly-dyed layer of pesticide is designed to […]
UW Extension Releases Nifty Seed Treatment Guide
Just a quick note to share a handy new resource put out by the University of Wisconsin’s Extension Office. “What’s on your seed?” is a one page guide to the many different types of seed treatments used on corn and soybean crops these days. Seed treatments are organized by active ingredient and treatment type (fungicide, […]
Math Mythology and More of the Same: USDA’s Sustainability Plan
Last week the USDA unveiled it’s new Agriculture Innovation Agenda, a “sustainability” plan with the goal of achieving a 50% reduction in the environmental footprint of US agriculture by 2050, as Politico reports. Sonny Perdue announced the new policy at an annual agency gathering in Virginia on February 20, 2020, or 02/20/2020 – an appropriate […]
Growing Evidence Tracks the Spread of Neonics Up and Through Branches on the Tree of Life
A Scientific American piece on neonicotinoid insecticides begins with a fascinating story about a wildlife rehab clinic in Montana. In the 1990s, a “bizarre trend” was noticed — an unusual number and diversity of birth defects in roadkill deer and other big game autopsied at the clinic. Scientists at the clinic pondered what could have […]
Neonic Insecticides and Metabolites ID’d in IA Tap Water, May Become More Toxic from Water Purification Process
Two years ago in 2017, scientists with the USGS and the University of Iowa first reported that neonicotinoid insecticides were “persistent” in drinking water samples collected at the University’s Iowa City campus during a seven week period after the corn planting season (May-July). The reason why was no mystery — at least 80% of the GMO […]
Buzzing Below the Radar – Wild Pollinators in Big Trouble
A team based at the University of Vermont has produced a national map of 139 counties in which wild bee populations are at risk where they are most needed to pollinate the fruits and vegetables most Americans need to eat more of. The red and purple shaded areas of the map below cover several of […]
New Iowa Centric Verse of the Dicamba Blues
According to all reports, dicamba volatilization, drift, and crop damage has markedly worsened in 2020 in Iowa, as many expected it would. Bob Hartzler, a widely respected, experienced weed scientist at Iowa State, has published a July 8, 2020 blog entitled “Dicamba 2020: What went wrong in Iowa?” For the story of how we got […]
A Deeper But Flawed Look at Herbicide Use
Andrew Kniss is a professor at the University Wyoming whose research is partially funded by the pesticide and biotech industry. My research over the last ~15 years has been substantially funded by organic food companies, and foundations that hope to support bio-based innovation in agriculture that leads to healthier food and a lighter environmental footprint. (For […]
Acronyms and Glossary
Acronyms Glossary Click here to download this Acronyms and Glossary file as a pdf Acronyms ADI – Acceptable Daily Intake, a measure of the maximum amount of a pesticide a person can be exposed to without exceeding a regulatory agency’s “level of concern.” ALA- Alpha-Linolenic Acid, the major omega-3 fatty acid in food with health-promoting […]
Pesticide Use Indicators
Rate of Application Metrics Measures of the Extent of Use Limits of “Pounds Applied” Measures of Total Use by Type of Pesticide Measures of Total Pesticide Use Measuring Other Impacts Associated With Pesticide Use The most common metric of “pesticide use” is the pounds of active ingredient applied in a given year on an acre […]