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Pesticides and Soil

THINK PESTICIDES HELP BOOST CROP YIELDS?  DON’T BET THE FARM!  NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT OVER TIME, THEY MIGHT REALLY BE DOING THE OPPOSITE.  LEARN WHY ON TODAY’S ENVIRONMINUTE.

LEGUME CROPS SUCH AS SOY AND ALFALFA INTERACT WITH BACTERIA IN THE SOIL TO FIX NITROGEN – A NATURAL FERTILIZER.  IT’S A PROCESS THAT’S CRUCIAL TO SOIL FERTILITY.  BUT LAB TESTS SHOW THAT SOME PESTICIDES HINDER THIS PROCESS BY PREVENTING PLANTS FROM ATTRACTING THE NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA.

MCLACHLAN: AS A CONSEQUENCE, THEY BLOCK THE GROWTH OF THE PLANT THAT’S BEING EXPOSED.

THAT’S JOHN MCLACHLAN DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR BIOENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AT TULANE UNIVERSITY.  HE SAYS REPEATED PESTICIDE APPLICATIONS MAY THEREFORE REDUCE CROP YIELDS OVER TIME AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEED FOR INCREASED FERTILIZER USE. SHOULD THIS CONCLUSION BE SUPPORTED BY FIELD-WIDE EXPERIMENTS, IT COULD HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE.

THE ENVIRONMINUTE IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE HEINZ FAMILY PHILANTHROPIES AND THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS.  LEARN MORE BY VISITING ENVIRONMINUTE-DOT-COM.