Citation on pest losses & pesticide use

Steve Diver (steved@ncatark.uark.edu)
Wed, 24 Feb 1999 15:41:33 +0000

In response to the sanet request for a citation on pesticide use
in comparison to pest damages, here is something from the
1994 "Sustainable Vegetable Production" publication from
ATTRA:

"Currently, an estimated 37% of all crops is lost annually to pests.
Fifty years ago, however, before introduction of most agricultural
chemicals, only 31% of all crops was lost. More interestingly,
losses to insects nearly doubled (from 7% to 13%) from the
1940s to the present, in spite of a more than ten-fold increase
in insecticide use (1)."

Reference:
Pimentel, David. 1986. Pests and their control. p. 3-19. In:
CRC Handbook of Natural Pesticides: Methods. Volume I:
Theory, Practice, and Detection. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Steve Diver

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