Abstract
Over-reliance on pesticides for pest control is inflicting serious damage to the environmental services that underpin agricultural productivity. The widespread use of systemic insecticides, neonicotinoids, and the phenylpyrazole fipronil in particular is assessed here in terms of their actual use in pest management, effects on crop yields, and the development of pest resistance to these compounds in many crops after two decades of usage. Resistance can only be overcome in the longterm by implementing methods that are not exclusively based on synthetic pesticides. A diverse range of pest management tactics is already available, all of which can achieve efficient pest control below the economic injury level while maintaining the productivity of the crops. A novel insurance method against crop failure is shown here as an example of alternative methods that can protect farmer’s crops and their livelihoods without having to use insecticides. Finally, some concluding remarks about the need for a new framework for a truly sustainable agriculture that relies mainly on natural ecosystem services instead of chemicals are included; this reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:148-154, 2015).
Highlights
After the publication of the World Integrated Assessment (WIA) on Systemic Insecticides (Bijleveld van Lexmond et al 2015; van der Sluijs et al 2015), some new research about neonicotinoids and fipronil have been made available
The present review focuses on alternatives to the uses of these systemic insecticides for annual and perennial crops
The results showed that in rice fields grown with flowers on the bunds, insecticide use was reduced by 70%, biological control was increased by 45%, pest populations were decreased by 30%, and yields were increased by 5%
Summary
After the publication of the World Integrated Assessment (WIA) on Systemic Insecticides (Bijleveld van Lexmond et al 2015; van der Sluijs et al 2015), some new research about neonicotinoids and fipronil have been made available. While the authors reported that farmers may get better economic returns some years, as they apply seed coatings which reduced the number of subsequent applications of foliar insecticide sprays, they revealed a correlation over an 11-year-period between honey bee colony losses and national-scale imidacloprid usage patterns across England and Wales These findings on oilseed rape yields are consistent with previous reports on the non-usefulness of neonicotinoids in soybean (Seagraves and Lundgren 2012) and wheat crops (Macfadyen et al 2014). These results make it possible to prepare risk maps for any country identifying low-risk and high-risk areas This information may be used to implement IPM and to tackle soil pests attacking maize in many European regions (Furlan et al 2016) and beyond, which may lead to a considerable reduction in the use of soil insecticides and the immediate containment of the environmental impact of agriculture with no negative repercussions on farmers’ income. This would allow IPM to be extended wherever the Agriotes species studied in this work are widespread, and probably to wherever other Elateridae species occur, once accurate comparisons have been made
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