Pesticides

Pesticide use continues to drop in California

Reflecting a long-term trend, reported pesticide use dropped over 5% between 2021 and 2022 in California. Data from the Pesticide Use Report revealed 181 million pounds of active pesticide ingredients applied, a 10.4-million-pound decrease from 2021. Cumulative acres treated also decreased by 3.2% year over year. California requires pesticide use be reported for all agricultural […]

Robot weedkillers could help farmers reduce need for pesticides

The unassuming yellow (4 ft. x 2 ft.) battery-powered locomotive is a welcome sight to Clint Brauer, whose Kansas company Greenfield builds and programs the robots. The mobile chopper slices the weeds as it putters down rows of crops. For Brauer, a former tech executive who returned home following his father’s illness, the robots are problem […]

Little-known toxic chemical shows up in 80 percent of Americans tested

Exposure increasing as EPA raised allowance level in 2023 The pesticide chlormequat, linked to reproductive and developmental harm in animals, is present in popular oats and oat products including Quaker Oats and Cheerios. In urine samples of 96 people collected between 2017 and 2023, 80 percent of them showed traces of the chemical. In May […]

Red nets signal “stop” to insect pests, reduce need for insecticides

Changing the color of commonly used agricultural nets lessens insect damage to Kujo, Japan leek fields Red nets are better at keeping away a common agricultural insect pest than typical black or white nets, according to a new study. Researchers experimented with the effect of red, white, black, and combination-colored nets on deterring onion thrips […]

Glyphosate exposure linked to severe depression and cognitive decline

A new study from Taiwanese scientists uncovered a strong link between exposure to the herbicide glyphosate and severe depression and cognitive decline in American adults. The percentage of participants with detectable levels of glyphosate was 80.4%. Researchers analyzed data from 1532 adults participating in the 2013-2014 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to investigate […]